Inferno
by Matteoarts
Summary: He had no hope of rescue until he came across a lone Titan, her pilot killed in action. She had no hope of survival until he happened upon her. They met as foes, but fate made them friends. Now, they've uncovered something that could destroy everything that the frontier has worked to build. They must face the inferno of war together if they are to survive.
1. Battlescars

Shit. This wasn't good.

Tobias couldn't make himself look away, and so was rewarded with a view of the blossoming explosion that once was the extraction ship. He cringed a bit as he saw chunks of both metal and bodies fly in every which way, a combination of snow and ash now drifting through the air. With a loud crunch, the skeleton of the ship landed in a heap upon the rocky ground near the edge of the cliff, and slowly fell over the precipice. Not that it mattered; anyone who'd been on that craft was surely dead.

This was supposed to just be a routine op. Rumors had sprung up of potential Militia activity on Nedar, and so several pilots and squads of grunts had been sent to investigate a sector of the planet. The incident at Demeter had been an unbelievable blow to the IMC; the fueling station was completely destroyed, crippling travel from the frontier to the inner colonies, and Admiral Graves had turned traitor. Not to mention how many buddies he'd lost there. The point was the IMC had been hit, and they wanted to hit the Militia right back.

As it turned out, the rumors had been right; there was definitely a Militia presence stationed here, and they were not happy with the intrusion of the IMC. It had been like kicking a beehive. Pilots and grunts had swarmed the landscape, and soon it become an all out battle with Titans and humans alike.

Regardless, they'd managed to clean house pretty well; they'd effectively wiped out every Militia soldier, pilot, and spectre in the area. The order had been received for everyone to head back to the cliffside for extraction. He'd been a bit further than the others from where the LZ was, and so he'd started making his way back.

It was when he was only a few hundred meters away that he saw the massive lone Titan barreling out of cover from the trees that surrounded the clearing on the cliff. Some distraught Titan that had apparently lost its pilot, and decided to take revenge by self-detonating its nuclear core right next to the drop-ship. Poor bastards didn't stand a chance.

And so it came to be that Tobias was now stuck here, alone in this god-forsaken winter landscape with nothing but dead trees and snow around him. He knew what this meant; he was a goner. He wasn't a pilot yet, only a trainee. Maybe higher ranking than a grunt, but they wouldn't go out of their way for someone like him. Besides, they were likely under the impression that there were no survivors considering the drop ship had exploded with nearly everyone in it. No, the IMC would consider the operation a success with all hands lost, and forget about it.

He didn't trust either the IMC or the Militia. The IMC had a reputation for being unbearably imposing on the frontier worlds, and the Militia were known as nothing more than terrorists. Rebels maybe, but terrorists all the same. He hadn't been involved with the Militia, but after two years or so of being a grunt for the IMC and only recently training to be a pilot, he could definitely say that their reputation was deserved. But that didn't make them worse than a faction that was just escalating a situation to heights it didn't need to be. He fought the militia not because he believed the IMC was right, but because he thought it was the quickest way to peace. But that line of thinking was certainly coming back to bite him in the ass now.

He looked every which way for some sign of shelter that he could take cover in. Obviously, the Militia had some kind of outpost out here. They hadn't come across it, but these fighters hadn't just popped out of thin air. He had to find that outpost, and take refuge. His pilot suit could only compensate for so much; if he was out here still by nightfall, the temperatures would kill him. Looking to his right, he noticed tracks. There were several; Titans and humans alike, but some of them appeared to come from a central direction. That could be towards the outpost.

Slowly, he trudged through the snow to the only glimmer of hope he had. No longer did he have the energy to jump around and run; temperatures were dropping, and the deaths of his teammates were weighing just a bit heavily on his heart. He felt numb inside, and it wasn't from the snow.

One foot after the other. One foot after the other. That was all he had to focus on right now- was all he _could_ focus on right now.

Suddenly, he heard the whir of machinery nearby. He stopped moving, hoping his whitish armor would help him camouflage against the snow.

Nothing happened.

Very slowly, he swiveled his head to the right towards the noise he'd heard. He spotted nothing for a moment; then he spied a very small bit of movement beyond the trees in front of him; large and grey. A Titan? It didn't seem to be going anywhere.

He analyzed his options. He could continue to trek ahead, and have a very small chance of finding the outpost; or he could announce himself to the Titan, and assuming it was IMC, it could help him and give him potentially a guarantee of survival. That is, if he beat the 50/50 odds first of it being Militia.

Screw it. 50/50 was still better than the ten percent chance he had of making it on his own.

He changed direction, and began to move towards the trees. Upon reaching them, he pushed past them until he stood in a snowy clearing. A Titan of dark blue-gray color was kneeling in the snow, its back turned to him. He couldn't see what class it was, but it seemed to be one of the more average sized varieties.

His boot suddenly made a crunching noise against the snow. He froze, preparing for the Titan to whip around and attack him. But if it took notice of him, it did not show it.

Curious, he began to make his way around the side of it, so that he could see the front. It was revealed to be an Ion class, and he soon saw why it was kneeling.

A single pilot was laid out on the ground in front of it. Garbed in Militia colors, he couldn't help but feel a bit of unease as he came to a stop. His white armor was easily visible; but the Titan seemed completely engrossed with the pilot on the ground, watching over him in a protective position.

Tobias couldn't say what compelled him to inch forward; but he did. Soon, he was standing over the fallen pilot, watching the rise and fall of his chest as he struggled to breathe. Blood stained the snow around him, casting one spot of imperfection among the pure white that was undisturbed everywhere else.

The pilot turned towards him, and seemed to stiffen slightly upon seeing the IMC armor he was wearing. Then, he slightly relaxed when he recognized that Tobias wasn't the officer that had shot him. He went back to his labored breathing, and beckoned to Tobias with one hand.

He was still less than comfortable with his current position, but something drove him to obey. Kneeling down, he gave the pilot one of his hands. Shakily, the pilot pulled Tobias' arm towards his chest where he was wounded. In an instant, the palm of his glove was slick with blood.

Tobias understood what the pilot was saying; _you may not have dealt the killing blow, but you still fought with the ones who did._

Then the pilot did something unexpected; he grabbed Tobias' hand again, and this time gripped it with his remaining strength like one would a friend; he held Tobias as an ally for a moment.

This time, Tobias was shocked at what he understood. _Still_ , _we are both human; and if we can act as friends rather than foes, perhaps there is still a chance for peace._

Tobias nodded his understanding. Both of them had lost friends in this battle, but the pilot was willing to put that aside, despite being the only one of the two actually dying. He continued to hold the hand of the pilot as his grip slowly became weaker… and weaker…

Finally, the strength faded from the pilot's hand, and Tobias felt it go limp in his own. Gently, he placed the man's hand over his chest, a respectful position of death. He was still for a moment, and then he glanced up.

The Titan was staring right at him.

Upon the reality of the situation hitting him like train, he began to back away slowly. It followed his movements until he was roughly three meters away, and then turned back to the dead pilot. _Its_ dead pilot, he thought finally making the connection.

Which meant that the Titan was Militia too, and probably was in a much better position to kill Tobias then the other pilot was.

 _Well… shit._ He certainly couldn't outrun a Titan, and it'd probably just shoot him down from a distance if he startled it and tried to run anyway. There was no way out of this situation; he was stuck in the snow with a dead Militia pilot, and whose Titan probably wanted revenge.

Instead of wasting time running, Tobias sat in the snow where he stood, and began to try and come to terms with his inevitable death soon.

They both sat there in the cold powder, silence but for the howl of the wind and snowfall. Man and machine waited for the other.

"Why don't you run?"

Tobias looked up at the metal being. It had spoken with a mechanized feminine voice, one that sounded young but experienced. The question had not been phrased as a suggestion, but more like a passing curiosity that needed answering. He shrugged.

"There's no way I can beat you, and there's no way I can outrun you. Why die tired?"

The Titan did not speak. He waited for a few seconds before returning to staring at the snow and trying to remain warm.

"Why would you die?"

He looked back up again. "Why wouldn't I? If I stay here, I freeze to death. If I leave, you kill me. There's no way out here."

She nodded slightly, as if contemplating his answer. "What would make me kill you?"

He tilted his head in confusion. "Well, your pilot's dead. So there's already motivation for revenge, not to mention that I'm the enemy." he said, gesturing at himself. "Most Titans would have already gone after me."

She was silent before turning back to the pilot's body. "I'm not most Titans."

Another pause. The snowfall was beginning to pick up, a sign of an incoming storm.

"He was your enemy too. Most humans would have attempted to finish him off, yet you showed him respect in death. Why?"

He shrugged. "I'm not most humans."

During each of those silences that followed their dialogue, they did nothing but simply stare at the other, sizing each other up. Despite what they'd both said, each expected the other to turn on them at any moment.

Eventually, the Titan decided to concede. "If you continue along the path you were going, you will find shelter. But you must hurry before nightfall." Then, she returned to mourning her pilot.

Tobias couldn't believe it, the Titan was letting him go? He wasn't about to waste that opportunity. He stood up quickly, brushing snow off of his armor as he did so, and began to head back towards the clearing. But a thought struck his mind, and made him hesitate.

"Aren't you gonna get out of the storm too?"

She kept her back to him. "No."

"Why not?"

"My systems don't have enough power."

He looked over her form, and noticed several smoking components on her back and joints. A gash could be seen near the top; a sign of a damaged battery. There was no way that she was gonna be going anywhere soon with a broken case like that, and her circuits and servos would freeze if she remained out here.

He debated with himself over what to do. Realistically speaking, he had no obligation to help her. She was the enemy, and he hadn't been the one to kill the pilot; he didn't owe her anything. But she had let him go, even if part of it was because neither could win over the other; he had no way to best a Titan, and she had no way of chasing after him if he ran. They had been at an impasse until she'd given up. Some part of him wanted to honor that.

Instead of making his way towards where he'd been going before, he began to head back towards the scarred battlefield. He stepped carefully, looking through the remnants of what had once been a pretty winter woodland. Broken trees and scorch marks were scattered around, a testament to the battle that had just occurred shortly before.

He spotted something of potential value. Increasing his speed, he came across the carcass of a fallen Titan. IMC. He recognized it as Sergeant Jospert's, CO-4057. Obviously, neither Jospert nor CO-4057 would be needing what he was after.

Making his way to the back of the dead Titan, he pulled out his data-knife, and began to pry open the battery casing. After a few tries of bending the weakened metal, the cover popped off and allowed access to the battery within.

Score; the battery wasn't damaged. The Titan's circuits and everything else had been obliterated, but at least the power supply had survived. Hefting the heavy green cylinder in his left hand, he turned around and headed back the way he came.

When he arrived, the Titan was still there, though she was sitting now instead of kneeling over the body. She had probably accepted her fate already.

He walked forward with confidence this time, and she plainly heard him approach. "Why are you back?"

"I had something I needed to take care of first."

Instead of sounding intrigued like he predicted, the Titan just sat there without looking at him. When she spoke, not much had changed but there was a hint of sad resignation in her voice.

"If you must. I will not resist."

He realized that the Titan thought he was back to kill her. He shook his head, but didn't reveal his true intentions yet. She allowed him to climb up her back, up to where the damaged battery was located. He would only have a few seconds to swap out the batteries before the reserve power failed. Her casing opened easily enough, and the damaged battery slid out easily. He could already feel her body beginning to slump over, and he hurriedly pushed the new battery in.

The reaction was immediate. The Titan jolted back into motion, and the movement threw Tobias off. Startled, the Titan looked at her arms, testing out her newfound mobility. She nudged her legs, responsive and ready. She swung her body around to stare at him.

"What did you do?" she asked confusedly; she had been expecting him to destroy her.

He stood back up, and dusted snow off of him. "I found another battery from one of our dead Titans. You gave me a chance to live, I figured I'd do the same."

She stared at him blankly. She clearly had not thought that the enemy would go so far as to spare her, let alone help her.

He felt a bit put off by the scrutiny. "Look, I mean… even if I make it to shelter, I've got no way to contact my allies. And they're definitely not gonna come back for me. So, if I'm stuck here, it might be good to have at least someone around to talk to, huh?"

She shifted a bit from one foot to the other. "That would be a good idea, yes. But I doubt that you'll be stuck here for long."

"Why's that?"

"It's Militia procedure to go back and check for survivors even after evacuations… or losses."

Tobias remembered hearing about that somewhere; it was one of the few things that made him question if the Militia had some compassion somewhere in their purpose. "Well, they're not gonna be too thrilled when they get here."

"They will find two survivors."

He froze.

He looked back up at her. "Oh, no. No. That's not happening. I may not be like most of my colleagues, but I'm still IMC, remember? How do you think they'd react to that?"

She spoke seriously. "With open arms. More and more IMC desert and join the Militia every day. And you've already proven you're of reasonable intentions by what you've demonstrated to me."

He crossed his arms. "Why do you want me to do this?"

"I don't care." There wasn't anything in her voice to say she was lying either. "As you said, you're IMC; you've still killed Militia, and if it weren't for your attack, Captain Shears would still be alive." She gestured towards her dead pilot on the ground. Tobias felt another pang of regret.

"I'm simply offering you a way out; I saw something in you, and I'm trying to acknowledge it. It's up to you to accept that."

He felt unsure of himself. He'd thought the Militia were close to terrorists, a faction of stubborn rebels with no empathy towards anyone unaffiliated with their cause. But this Titan was painting him a different picture.

She made one final statement; "It's your only chance to survive and get off this planet."

He sighed.

"Well, do we want to find somewhere warm to wait for them?"


	2. Group Therapy

For what had to have been the fifth time in as many minutes, Tobias began scraping hardened snow off of his shoulder plates. The white powder was falling in torrential gusts now, and it caked onto anything it touched. That included a freezing human and a lumbering Titan trying to make their way through a blizzard.

They'd finally made it out of the woodland area, but they weren't much better off; they were crossing over an open plain that was pretty devoid of cover. It forced Tobias to move a bit slower than he would have liked, considering he had no real protection from the elements. His pilot suit's thermostat systems were gonna fail soon, and then the armor would be the only thing keeping him even remotely warm.

Suddenly, he felt something shift in the air and the snow ceased to blow directly into him. Looking to his left, he saw that the Titan had moved in line with him, shielding him from the wind with her legs. Whether it was intentional or not, he appreciated it.

They'd been walking for nearly an hour before the Titan spoke again; "We'll be coming up on the station in half a mile. It's not large; we were in the middle of establishing a greater presence here on Nedar before you attacked us." There was still a little bite to her voice. She might be helping him, but he was pretty sure that she was still probably feeling similar to how he did when he saw all of the other pilots get blown up.

They didn't speak again until they actually reached the outpost a bit later. She was right, it wasn't very large; just a few makeshift buildings as barracks for the soldiers and a main compound. A garage like warehouse stood nearby for Titans to reside in. It definitely wasn't much, but it was more than enough to get warm and wait for evac.

Figuring that the Titan was probably only going to fit in the warehouse, he decided to follow her as she made a beeline towards it. The large door on the front sensed the weight and movement of the Titan as she approached it, and he watched as the doors began to split at a seam in the center, moving towards the edges of the building to allow them access. He jogged in after her, and she forced the doors to cease their progress, and immediately begin closing to keep out the snow.

Finally with a resounding slam, the doors were closed and they were completely protected from the storm. He turned towards the giant mech and nodded appreciatively.

With a slight quake in the ground, the Titan let herself fall back into a sitting position. Then, the trapezoidal 'eye' of hers set its gaze upon him. Its blue light shone with a sort of neutral feel; not yet friendly, but not hostile either. He began to ascend a ramp attached to the wall of the building, one that led to a balcony where he was about even with her height.

"We have approximately an hour before Militia forces will deem the zone safe to land in. Once the IMC has moved off, as you have indicated they will, I will activate a distress beacon that will alert them to survivors here in the base." It sounded like a solid enough plan, and after a few seconds of processing it, he nodded his approval to her.

With that, she stopped looking at him and decided to stare off at the wall. He probably would have done the same thing, but there was just something so surreal about the situation; he was intrigued, he wanted to know more. But he didn't really have a proper way to segue into a proper talk. So he went with the most obvious conversation starter he could think of.

"Do you have a name?"

She looked at him sharply. Every time she did that, he couldn't help but feel like his insides were wilting; neutral or not, the Titan still had the power to crush him like a bug. It freaked him out a bit.

It was a few seconds before she responded with an even tone, "My designated serial number is KT-0298."

He raised an eyebrow, though she couldn't see it with his helmet still on. "I never understood that."

"Understood what?"

"That whole 'designated serial number' thing. Why don't you guys ever just say 'name', huh? It's a lot shorter to say, and means the same thing."

The Titan was silent for a moment, contemplating an adequate way to explain. Tobias waited patiently.

"Saying 'name' implies humanity, to a degree. Titans are given a mission to carry out. Protocol one is to link with a pilot. Protocol two is to uphold the mission. And protocol three is to-"

"Protect the pilot," he finished for her. She looked at him oddly.

"You must be a pilot to know the Titan's protocols. Where is your Titan?"

He shook his head. "Not yet, just a trainee. I've got the mobility thing down, but I don't have a Titan assigned to me yet." He shrugged. "I mean, it looks like I won't anyway, if I'm really doing this."

She nodded. "Noted. Now, both protocol two and three involve direct duties that a Titan must carry out. To finish the mission and protect the pilot at all costs; even at the expense of our own 'lives'. How much more difficult would it be to carry out that duty if both Titans and pilots alike viewed Titans with the same value as a human life?"

He understood now. Titans had to be as displaced from the idea of 'human' as possible, so that if given a choice, a human life always took priority over a Titan's. Smart, but kind of cruel when he thought about it.

"Still seems just a bit harsh."

"It is reality. How many pilots do you know that would give their life for a Titan's? Would willingly die for a machine?"

He had no answer.

The Titan sounded a bit cynical, if that was possible. "I've certainly never met one. Not even Captain Shears would have done so; he understood that the mission always came first." She looked down now, a little dejectedly.

"But he did always ensure that I came second."

Silence followed.

Tobias had no real idea of what to say. He didn't know how to comfort a human, let alone a Titan- did Titans even need comforting? Like she'd just bluntly said, they were machines. But then why did he keep classifying her as a female anyway? It was just a programmed voice- ah hell, he didn't know what to make of all these philosophical questions.

He sighed. "Well, he sounds like he was a good man. I'm sorry you lost him, KT."

She continued to stare at the ground. "I have failed all three of my protocols."

"What?"

"I am no longer linked to a pilot. The mission was a failure. And my pilot is dead." She looked towards him again. "Would that not be considered complete failure?"

He had no real advice to give her. "Well… I mean, yeah, I suppose so."

Another silence.

"But does it matter?"

Two rectangular apertures inched toward each other, causing her eye to narrow. "I don't understand."

He shrugged. "I mean, look at me. You say your mission was a failure, but that would imply mine was a success. And I don't look to be much better off, do I?" He gestured to the space around the warehouse. "We're in the same predicament, we both lost allies; both of us could consider our missions a failure. But I suppose the best thing to do is to just get back on the horse, as the saying goes. Don't give up."

KT continued to stare at him, but he could sense something shift in the way she did. There was something… new, in that gaze of hers. Grateful, almost, like she'd been relieved to hear that from him.

Nearly a minute passed between them before she reciprocated his original question; "What is your name?"

He looked over at her. "Tobias. Private First Class, Tobias Four."

"Four?"

"Kind of an odd last name, I know."

Suddenly, a noise issued from the Titan's vocal processors. It almost sounded like a pleased hum.

"What was that?"

"I simply found it amusing."

"My name?"

"It sounds like a serial number; like a Titan would have."

It finally clicked in his head what she was saying, and it forced a chuckle out of him as well. "Yeah, yeah I guess you're right. It does kinda sound like that, huh?"

He couldn't help but think as they continued onto warmer conversation; _Maybe this can work._

…

The massive doors of the warehouse began to split apart, a metallic grinding issuing from the floor as they slid messily along their rails. As soon as there was sufficient space, several gray armored grunts moved in to the building. Behind them followed what appeared to be a pilot; a woman dressed in a dark blue uniform with her gear strapped on over it. She seemed to be the leader of the evac team. Her helmeted head looked in both directions before spotting the Titan sitting over in a corner of the warehouse. She jabbed two fingers at it, and the grunts made their way over to it.

"Titan, respond!" the woman called. The Titan's eye turned toward the sound of her voice, and it replied, "Acknowledged."

"Are you the one who activated the distress beacon?"

"Affirmative."

"What is your designation?"

"KT-0298."

"It seemed like there would be other survivors. We haven't found anything but bodies out in the snow."

"There is only one survivor excluding myself."

"Are they here?"

"Affirmative." With that, the Titan turned towards the balcony next to it, and the pilot noticed a person standing on it; they were dressed in the familiar white armor of an IMC pilot.

Immediately, her weapon was drawn. The grunts in front of her had no need, their aim was already trained on him. "Don't move, or you're not gonna enjoy the next few seconds."

"Uh, don't worry; I was comfortable in this position anyways," replied the man.

Ignoring his smartass comment, the pilot asked "Who are you?"

"IMC PFC, Tobias Four."

She raised an eyebrow in her helmet.

"And is there a reason why this Titan hasn't killed you yet, Private?"

He shrugged. "We made a truce."

She sighed. "Well, is there any reason in particular why you've been waiting for the enemy to knock on your door?"

He shuffled his feet a bit. "I don't have anything against any of you, personally. I fought with the IMC because I believed it was the quickest way to ending this war in the Frontier. I believed that while the IMC may have been a bit corrupt, you were mostly comprised of terrorists waging violence on what would usually be peaceful systems." He pointed to the Titan. "But she's been giving me a bit of a different picture."

She knew his type; someone who usually wouldn't get involved, but felt that it was their duty to fight, albeit reluctantly. He probably just wanted a way off the planet. "Well, we're not gonna drop you in IMC space, but we can find somewhere in our territory to relocate you-"

"I'm not looking for relocation."

She narrowed her eyes a bit, her hands twitching ever so slightly on the trigger of her pistol. "So what _are_ you looking for?"

He seemed to take a deep breath. "I'd like to join the ranks of the Militia."

Now, she was taken aback. "And you've made this decision within the last few hours of that bloody skirmish out there?"

"I saw a few things that… changed my perspective a bit." He gave a slight shiver. "The point is, I still want this war to end. And if I can't bring peace to it on the side of the IMC, maybe I can help on the side of the Militia. Not all IMC are bad, and not all Militia are bad. I just want you to understand that before you judge me too harshly."

She had to admit, she was impressed with his decision. Most would have just taken the free ride and left, but this guy actually wanted to keep fighting. Maybe they could make use of him after all.

"We have been taking a lot of IMC deserters in recent times. You got anything worth our time?"

"I'm trained as a pilot."

That was certainly something. "Well, I can't say you're completely approved; but come with us, and we'll talk more about it."

Slowly, the man made his way down the balcony. The grunts kept their aim trained on him, and the Titan was watching his every move; though not suspiciously as the pilot would have expected; it was more of a protective kind of glare, one that ensured he was safe as he strode down the ramp.

Finally, he was standing in front of her. She extended her hand. "I'm Captain Gates; leader of the 6-4 division of the Militia. If you are brought into our ranks, you might be seeing me a lot more." She waved at him and the grunts to follow her outside where a massive dropship was waiting.

"Now c'mon; let's get you and the Titan onboard. I want to hear this whole story."


	3. Change of Heart

The light flashed into existence, blinding Tobias momentarily. He blinked repeatedly to adjust his vision to the newly brightened room faster.

"Welcome to the belly of the beast."

A man sat adjacent to his own seat at the stainless steel table. He wore a black military jumpsuit, and had short buzzed hair. If there was a stereotypical persona of a hardened military vet, this guy was the spitting image. Tobias couldn't help but think that this 'interrogation' was just a bit over the top and predictable.

"Captain Gates reported that her team retrieved a survivor from the nasty skirmish down on Nedar; one that was instigated by the IMC." The man narrowed his eyes. "She didn't mention that you were on the wrong side."

Tobias crossed his arms. They'd taken his armor and pistol, the only defense he had, when they'd reached this Militia frigate stationed in the system. He felt a bit helpless without them, at the mercy of the faction that had been his enemy less than twelve hours ago. But survival dictated action, and he was content with his. He'd come out of this too.

"Funny, until recently, I thought it was the other way around." He knew that a biting remark like that probably wouldn't make a great impression on his interviewer, but he had little patience for this whole routine. If they were going to kill him, then they'd kill him. Nothing he could do to stop that, so why grovel?

The man gave the subtlest of tugs on the edge of his mouth, the ghost of a smirk. He didn't have a good feeling about that smirk.

"I'd watch yourself, if I were you. See, we used to have a desperate need for soldiers here in the Militia. We had to take anybody who volunteered." That smirk materialized in full on his face. "But ever since the battle of Demeter, where the IMC lost any support from beyond the Frontier, and the massive influx of willing fighters rallying to our cause…" He made a tsk sound. "We're allowed to be a bit more selective of who we take on."

He pointed at Tobias. "I'm here to assess you for what you claim is a 'change of heart'. Convince me that you really want to fight for us, and I won't have my usual fun that I would with an IMC officer in my custody." That remark caused Tobias to look around their surroundings a bit more carefully.

They were in the medical wing. More specifically, a wing with several operating tools and sharp instruments lying around.

 _Shit_.

He exhaled. "I was just a guy with no real direction until roughly two years ago. The war that had been thus far fought throughout the frontier for so long, was now raging in front of me. Places I'd known since I was a kid were reduced to ash, colonies across the map were wiped out. I've seen that humans are very individualistic beings, we really only care about issues when they start to concern us, and I'm a prime example of that. To me, it had seemed like the Militia's fault; causing all this suffering by refusing to follow a few simple rules, bringing torment to so many systems so selfishly."

The man's eyes were calculated, intent. He was hanging onto Tobias' every word.

"I joined the IMC, because I thought it was my duty as an able-body to fight, to bring peace to the frontier." He sighed. "But nothing got better; it just got worse. I've seen some bad things the IMC has done, and I've seen some bad things the Militia has done. At the end of the day, I had no real loyalty to the IMC. I was just trying to help in the only way I knew how."

"So why continue fighting? Why join the very side that you've been against for so long?"

He thought back to the aftermath of that skirmish, where he watched Captain Shears die, held the man's arm as he did so. "I saw something that I haven't ever seen before in this war; a moment of peace. I saw that maybe, despite my increasing doubts as the war dragged on, there really was hope for what I'd originally joined up for." He looked at the man. "But the thing that surprised me was that it came from my enemy. Never would I have seen an IMC officer do what I saw that man do. And it caused me to question whether I was fighting for the right side."

"Do you believe you were fighting for the wrong side?"

"… I don't know."

"You don't?"

"It depends on what you mean by the wrong side."

The man crossed his arms, mimicking Tobias' earlier action. "I'll bite. What do you mean?"

"I believed that the IMC had a better chance of winning this war than the Militia did. I still think that, to be honest. Even without reinforcements for a few years, they still have more than enough forces in the form of spectres and mercenaries to fight you with. And they're better trained, better equipped, you get the picture."

"Go on."

"But that was the only reason I fought with them; because I wanted peace to come to the frontier quicker. I pictured you all as nothing more than savage terrorists, and that eased my mind a bit whenever it came time to kill." He looked off into space absent-mindedly, talking more to himself than the interrogator now.

"But that picture was proven wrong, because the only acts of compassion I've seen in this war so far have come from a dying enemy, and the Titan I came here with. She actually helped me survive." He shook his head, that was wrong. "We helped each other survive."

He looked back at the man. "So it came down to a choice; do I continue fighting with the side who I believe will win, against an enemy which I now know to be falsely demonized, or do I listen to my own conscience and fight beside those who I believe stand for what I believe in, even if it means going down with them?"

The man said nothing.

He shrugged. "If I do end up bringing peace to the frontier, I suppose that I'd have to hope that whoever ended up on top would be looking out for everyone and not just themselves. I haven't seen that with my few years in the IMC, but with you lot… I'm willing to give it another try."

The man nodded ever so slightly, analyzing his responses. Tobias waited with bated breath.

"That's all for now. You are to wait here until told otherwise."

With that, he abruptly stood from his seat, spun on his heel and exited the medical wing, leaving Tobias alone with his thoughts.

…

"KT-0298 is your designation, correct?"

"That is correct."

Gates crossed her arms over her chest patiently. "Alright, well you're here because I need some kind of explanation for what happened down there. We find that pretty much everyone is dead, and you're hunkered down in a warehouse with an IMC soldier." She waited for the Titan to provide her with some context.

"At 1800 hours, the Militia outpost on Nedar deployed all available personnel to combat an attacking force of IMC. The battle was short, but brutal. My pilot, Captain Shears, was fatally wounded in action during the skirmish."

Gates gave a soft sigh. She knew Shears, he was a good man. Very capable, dependable. "Go on."

"As far as I am aware, another Militia Titan was successful in destroying the escaping IMC soldiers. I believed myself to be alone, no other survivors around."

"And then this IMC guy came along?"

"Affirmative. I did not react to his presence originally, too preoccupied with my dying pilot. But rather than acting accordingly with normal IMC behavior, he comforted Captain Shears as he died."

There was definitely something odd about this guy, Gates knew that for sure. The IMC didn't show mercy.

"I advised him to leave before the approaching blizzard hit us in full. I was unable to leave due to a damaged battery preventing me from having full functionality."

"So how did you escape?"

At this, KT paused for a moment. Gates felt like the Titan was reflecting on something, seemingly still in disbelief over it herself. "He returned to me with an undamaged battery, and replaced my malfunctioning one. After that, we both proceeded to the outpost for shelter from the storm. No further events took place until we were recovered."

Gates contemplated all this new info. It would seem like the IMC soldier they'd picked up was definitely not looking for trouble. He'd had an opportunity to abandon the Titan, but had instead chosen to save her. Not to mention, he had asked to join their ranks rather than just accepting the free ride Gates had offered. And he was trained as a pilot. He could be very useful.

"Thank you, KT. That will be all. I need to talk this over with Dimitri. I'll get back to you in a bit."

"Yes, ma'am."

…

"So, what do you think?"

"The kid's definitely a good find. No real loyalty to the IMC, knows his stuff, and his ultimate goal is peace for the frontier. Not much to consider, in my book."

"I see."

"If someone like Graves is now leading our forces, I don't see why not. More and more ex-IMC join our cause, and most of them don't have half as good a reason as this guy does."

"I agree with you."

"Thought you might. What about her?"

"I still don't know. This late in the game, it's just stupid to waste Titans. They're not easy to produce; but we can't have her back on active-duty without a pilot. And the risk of a double-link with her-"

"It's not just a man and a machine, there has to be an actual sense of connection there."

"Exactly. But it's not like she'll just be able to link with any other pilot now that she doesn't have one. There'd be complications for sure. I'm thinking I might just have to decommission her, wipe the AI's mind and-"

"Wait."

"What?"

"You've given me an idea."

…

The door to the room opened with a rush of air. Tobias jerked his head towards the noise, a bit surprised when he saw that same woman that had recovered him from Nedar. Gates, her name was. He'd been expecting the jacket guy again.

"Alright, come with me. We're sorting you out for good."

He nodded, stood up, and followed her out the door. She lead him through a few white hallways of the medical wing before they entered a massive hangar. Ships flew in and out of the large frigate's shields to land. Militia soldiers and Titans alike were scattered around every so often. It unsettled him a bit that he was surrounded by so many people who he might have considered enemies just a day ago. He was pretty glad now that he wasn't wearing his signature white armor.

Finally, he spotted two familiar faces near a group of crates away from the bustle of other Militia; KT and the black jacketed man that had interrogated him.

"What's your name again?" asked Gates.

"Four, Tobias Four."

"Alright Four, well Dimitri here and I have just been reviewing your case and deciding what to do with you."

The man strode forward and nodded at him. "Hope you know what you're doing."

"Dimitri is my second in command of the 6-4. I trust him more than anyone else, hence why I wanted his opinion of you while the Titan here briefed me on the events down on Nedar."

Tobias looked up at KT to see her looking back at him. There was something reassuring about having her here.

Dimitri cleared his throat. "Well, it's up to her whether you make the final cut. But I will say this." He gave Tobias a satisfied smirk. "You've got heart. It wasn't just about money when you were fighting for the IMC, it was about bringing peace to the frontier. And that's as good a trait as any in my book."

He was surprised, he had figured that Dimitri didn't like him. But it seems like the man was willing to vouch for him. Gates nodded and remained silent for another minute before reaching a verdict.

"Welcome aboard, Four."

He nodded gratefully.

She crossed her arms. "Now, regardless of intent, you _are_ just a rookie to the Militia. How much experience have you got?"

"I was an IMC grunt for a year and eight months. I've been training as a pilot for five months now. I've mastered parkour courses and am quite familiar with my jump pack. I haven't linked with a Titan yet, but I know the procedure for the most part."

Gates nodded thoughtfully. "That's good. Definitely helps."

She clapped her hands. "Alright, this is what's gonna happen. Dimitri probably told you how we can afford to be a bit picky with our candidates. While that's certainly true, the fact is that out here, you gotta learn quick if you're gonna survive. I want to run you through a few practice links with a Titan before one gets assigned to you, and you'll be a fully fledged pilot. Can't be sending you into battle without any experience, right?"

He nodded, accepting her assignment.

Gates looked away from him, and let her gaze fall upon KT. "Titan, you're going to be decommissioned until further notice. Understood?"

"Affirmative."

Tobias' heart skipped a beat. He heard KT's agreement, though there was a tinge of regret attached. "Whoa, wait; she's getting decommissioned?"

The captain turned back to him. "Afraid so. She doesn't have a pilot anymore." She sighed. "See, because of the protocols, we rarely have this problem. Most of the time, it's Titans that get destroyed and humans are issued a new one. A new Titan to bond with, form connections with. As humans, we're able to do that. But it's a bit more difficult for the AI."

She waved at KT, who was also tracking the captain's movements. "A pilot and a Titan have a certain bond; when you're piloting a Titan, it's not you and them; it's a feeling of oneness. Titans are produced with that idea in mind, but take away one of the halves and what happens?"

She shook her head. "We can't risk sending a Titan into battle without a pilot, she'd be too easily destroyed. A waste of resources. And we can't really link her up to a new pilot; the odds of her forging an emotional connection with anyone else are too slim." She shrugged. "So the only option left is to wipe the AI's memory; essentially give it a 'kill' command, and just restart the system."

He looked up to where KT stood above them. She was no longer looking at any of them, refusing to allow any of them to see how this news was affecting her. Even now, she was ready to follow orders, no matter how much it would hurt to do so. Titans really did put the mission first.

Tobias thought rapidly to himself. So Titans had a natural need for a bond with a pilot, they couldn't just link with anyone. And it seemed like there was no one else that could really emotionally relate to her anymore, now that Shears was dead… except…

Gates seemed to wait for something before turning over to Dimitri. "I want you to take her over to engineering, see how soon they can work in a total wipe of her memory banks-"

"What about me?"

Gates stopped talking and spun to face him. Behind her, he could see the faintest trace of a smile on Dimitri's face.

"What about you?"

Tobias shuffled his feet a moment, but spoke confidently. "You said that Titans need an emotional connection with their pilot, someone they can relate and bond with. I know that I used to be on the other side, but… we both lived through that skirmish, were both lone survivors of our teams. We both lost friends. And we helped each other survive."

He looked up at KT. "I'd like to volunteer to be her pilot." The Titan was looking back at him, frozen in her place. She didn't dare speak a word, waiting to hear what Gates had to say. He didn't even know why he was doing this; he just felt it was right. "I think that we would make a good team."

KT was still silent, completely at a loss for his idea.

Gates' facial expression was hidden behind her helmet, masking any hints as to what she thought of his suggestion. He wondered if she ever took it off.

Finally, she broke her silence. "Well, it would certainly be a more efficient use of resources. There wouldn't be a need to assign an unused Titan to you, and we don't have to wipe the AI's mind." She turned to her second-in-command. "What do you think, Dee?"

He simply gave a slight nod, and that was good enough for her.

"Well, I guess your request is approved. Now get out of here before I change my mind. Titan, if you're not going to be decommissioned, I want you to report to engineering and get your chassis fixed."

Both nodded, and set off towards engineering. It seemed like the guy was going to accompany her.

"How did you know he would do that?"

Gates heard a slight chuckle from behind her.

"Just a feeling."


	4. The Gauntlet

" _Gauntlet run ready to start. On your mark, pilot."_

Tobias gave it another few seconds for him to prepare himself. Once he felt ready, he aligned his stance properly, and then broke out into a sprint. He noticed a little timer in the bottom right of his HUD monitoring his progress.

He leapt onto the right wall of the training arena, and used it along with gravity to give him some forward momentum. Once he'd been wall-running to the point where he was beginning to slide off the wall, he pushed against it and sent himself into the air. He activated his jump pack for an upward boost in mid-air before he landed and rolled into the first group of hostiles.

For training exercises, non-sentient Spectres were used as dummy opponents. He knew there'd be four of them at the first checkpoint, just like there were every run; sure enough, four Spectres turned to face him as he came out of his roll, and they readied their weapons.

They didn't have any time to react as he immediately transitioned to a kneeling position, his gloved hand moving forward in a fist to knock aside the one in front of him. While his left arm was busy with that, his right was busy drawing his sidearm from its holster. All of the ammunition was rubber as to not damage pilots or equipment, but the Spectres would register the impact on their sensor systems and count it as a 'bullet', then go down accordingly. Each Spectre received no less than two shots each, and he began to reload as they fell onto their backs without a fight.

His ammunition replenished, he sprinted ahead to the next encounter. There were several ways to get through this next phase, but he was on a time crunch here. Opting to slide under the low opening to the front of the room, he already had his aim trained on his left where two scouts would be situated.

But upon his slide under the low hanging wall, he found that they were not there. He was only confused for a moment before realizing that they were probably switching things up on him a bit, trying to surprise him. Groaning, he picked himself back up and entered another sprint.

He almost leapt over the next wall in front of him, but he had just peeked over it before he used any momentum he had to push himself backwards and right back into cover. Every Spectre that he could think of that was on the training course was there, gathered in the center of this room.

As he began to think of a solution, a small part of him began to think back to when he'd first come to the Militia…

* * *

 **\- Five Weeks Ago -**

Tobias waited as KT's chassis was repaired. The Titan was still in the engineering bay, and had been for roughly the last two hours. he supposed that they weren't just fixing her battery case, but a handful of other, minor things as well. While she was in the garage, he had decided to sit it out in the nearby hangar.

He'd had a bit of entertainment watching pilots, grunts, and _actual_ pilots alike, walk around the hangar from one side to the other, from ship to ship. These people didn't know anything about him, and he hoped it stayed that way for awhile. He couldn't imagine that, despite whatever KT or Gates had said, ex-IMC personnel would be welcomed too happily here.

With a start, he realized that the vibrations in the ground were growing slightly, moving closer to him. He turned around to see KT walking towards him, until she had reached him and she stood over him.

"Hey," he called. She nodded once to acknowledge him, then turned to the sight before them.

"What are you doing out here?" She gestured to the hangar.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Just people-watching. Seeing how they all move, interact with each other. Kind of interesting, actually. Though I don't think I should push my luck by talking with anyone quite yet."

She turned to look at him, then shook the eye of her chassis slightly, almost in a disbelieving way. He noticed the action.

"What?"

"You're unusual."

He raised an eyebrow. "In what way?"

"Why would you risk your already tenuous position with the Militia to keep me from being decommissioned?" She made a shrug gesture, her eye glancing away. "I've known pilots to be partial to risks and danger, but you seem to have an obsession."

He shook his head, a smirk on his face. "It was just the right thing to do, KT. Not to mention that you're just about the only friend I've got here."

She stiffened slightly, and looked at him once more. "What?"

"Did I say something wrong?"

The Titan was frozen for a good second or two before moving again. "No."

He wondered why she'd reacted like that, but he put it out of his mind.

"You know, I wasn't lying earlier."

"About what?"

"About us being a good team."

She gave him a funny look. "I hope so. I look forward to working with you, pilot."

"Not a pilot yet, remember?"

There seemed to be a slight warm tone in her voice now. "If I'm your Titan, then that makes you my pilot, correct?"

He pondered over that. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked back at the hangar.

"Pilot it is."

* * *

Focusing back on the task at hand, Tobias let a wolf's grin creep across his face as he pulled an arc grenade out of his belt. They wanted to play dirty? He'd play dirty.

He ran at the side of the room, and hopped up onto the wall. While he ran to the other side, he lobbed the arc 'nade over at the group of Spectres. Before they could take aim, their wiring was short circuited by the electrical pulses of the grenade. Arcs of lightning jumped from Spectre to Spectre, forcing them offline one by one.

He landed back on the ground, now on the other side, and laughed in exhilaration. He couldn't ever go back to the life of a grunt; a pilot's job was just too much fun.

Noticing the objective at the end of the arena, he spoke into his wrist, though it was more for protocol than anything. Nobody was actually going to do anything, considering it was right in front of him.

"Requesting Titan fall."

" _Titan fall acknowledged. T minus 5._ " The voice on the other end of the line belonged to Dimitri, overseeing his gauntlet run. Since they were just in training, no actual Titan fall was going to happen; but he had to get used to calling it out if he was going to be entering battle with KT. She was his objective at the end of the arena; as soon as he entered her, the run would be over.

" _Titan fall touchdown."_ Dimitri was letting him know that his Titan was on the ground and ready. Sprinting faster to cut off any seconds he could, he gave one last kick off the ground, and soared towards KT. The Titan outstretched her arm, and grabbed him as well as opening her chassis to him in one movement. Placing him inside, the cockpit swung shut and the timer stopped.

" _Gauntlet run over. Good job, kid."_ At the sound of Dimitri's praise, Tobias looked at his clock.

"28 seconds? Not a bad run, huh Kay?"

"You're certainly improving. If I'm not mistaken, this is your fastest time yet; even with the change of Spectre layout."

Tobias patted the armrest of the pilot's seat affectionately. "Thanks." Then he raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you knew about the change of Spectre positions?"

"I requested it."

"Any particular reason?"

The Titan sounded smug. "To keep you on your guard."

He smirked. "Glad to see you're looking out for me, Kay."

"Of course, pilot."

Dimitri spoke through the comms; _"Alright, Four. You've been doing well these past few weeks, might be time to step it up a notch. Get yourself over here, and we'll see about getting you a proper assignment now._

" _I think you're ready."_

* * *

 _A/N: I get it, it's a short chapter. I do apologize, I've just got so many projects going on it's ridiculous. School is a pain in the ass as well, and I'm currently looking for a new job. I'll definitely try to update more often in the future, hopefully this is just a fluke. Remember to follow, favorite, and review!_

 _\- Matteoarts_


	5. Turncoat

_**A/N: Hey guys! Titanfall 2 is FINALLY here! I've been playing it all weekend, and it is amazing! The campaign was great, multiplayer is unmatched by anything else out there right now, I'm super satisfied.**_

 _ **I've seen a few of you state how fast-paced this story is, and you're right. Just like the games, both of which play more like a popcorn action movie than a super fleshed out story, I've been trying to keep the story pretty fast-paced. That doesn't mean I won't flesh out a good story; it just means I'm trying to keep some action in every chapter, though we'll definitely see a few slower moments as well.**_

 _ **Now, I think this is the ONLY Titanfall fic that's currently being updated or written at all, which would explain the massive influx of followers/favorites and readers that I've been getting notifications for. I figured I should try to get at least one chapter out to you guys during the release weekend, so here we are! Enjoy!**_

* * *

 _ **Four's Logbook**_

 _It's been just over a month since KT-0298 and I made it off Nedar, and I joined the militia. To say that my pilot training was accelerated is a bit of an understatement. Still, I'm finally as much of a pilot as I'll ever be. I remember first linking with KT, just under a week after Gates retrieved us. It's such an odd sensation; I never feel alone any more. In the back of my mind, I always feel like I've got a small piece of KT in me. I wonder if she feels the same way. I'm still not totally sure how the whole 'neural link' process works, but results speak pretty loudly. We haven't had any problems, and seem to be pretty effective together. For such an odd beginning, I'd say we've done pretty well._

 _Dimitri finally got me assigned today, under the wing of the SRS Marauder Corps. It's lead by Sarah Briggs, and I've heard quite a bit about her. The battle of Demeter happened just before I joined the IMC, a little over two and a half years ago now, and I remember losing some people I'd known there. From what I've understood, Sarah was one of the main leaders of the Militia who helped win the day, the other two being Cheng "Bish" Lorck, and the legendary James MacAllan. If half the stories I've heard about her are true, then she's one grade-A badass._

 _Hopefully, I can get settled in fairly quickly, and back out into the fight. I hope to get a chance and revert some of the damage I've cause towards peace while on the side of the IMC._

* * *

Tobias walked towards the hangar bay, where he'd been told to meet with his new team. For the most part, he assumed this was a temporary assignment; kind of a 'bottom of the rung' deal, where he'd be working his way up for a while. Granted, he'd been placed a few notches higher than usual just because of his experience already, but the point remained.

He'd been allowed to keep his old pilot armor, if only to save resources. The white armor was definitely going to stand out against the green and brown garb of the militia. In an effort to firmly solidify his loyalty, he'd scraped a makeshift emblem of the militia onto his left and right shoulder plates with his data knife. It hadn't been necessary, but it'd just felt right.

As he approached the dropship near the hangar doors, he noticed several people standing around it as though waiting for something. Three pilots and four grunts. That was likely them. He double-timed it over.

One of them heard him approaching, and turned to look. They nodded their head towards the rest of the group to get their attention. "Think that's our new meat?"

One of the pilots also turned to see Tobias approaching, and scoffed. "Oh look, it's another IMC-turned-Militia jackass. Not even gonna have the decency to get rid of that white, huh?"

Great. This was gonna be fun.

Biting back a retort, he held his pride and stood at attention. "Pilot PFC Four, at your service."

The man shook his head. "Nah, nah, nah. You may have been a PFC on their side, but to me?" He walked up close to Tobias and glared at him. "You ain't shit. I can't believe that Briggs and Gates are still allowing IMC to join our-"

"Cut the shit, McFarlane."

Tobias turned to see an odd pair approaching him. One was a woman, the other was… something else. It looked like a Spectre at first; but looking closer, he saw that the body had been heavily modified. Rather than flat feet, the legs ended in curved blades, much like prosthetic running legs used. Their plating was a crimson red color, with pouches and belts just like the humans adorning their chest and back. The head turned towards him, and the blue light on the front almost seemed to blink.

"You said your name is Four, right?"

Though definitely artificial, the voice had a distinctive feminine tone to it. He nodded. She extended a robotic hand towards him.

"I'm Vale. I apologize, but it seems that McFarlane here doesn't realize that without the massive influx of IMC joining our cause, we would have lost this war a long time ago." She turned to glare at the other man, and he scowled before turning away while muttering under his breath.

Now the woman looked at him. She had short-cut hair, and brown eyes that looked him up and down as though sizing him up. "Tyra. Odd name you've got there, Four."

He shrugged. "That's what I'm told." He looked at Vale. "You know, I heard rumors about something like this, but I didn't think it had already been done."

She nodded. "Pilot uploading? Yeah. Transferring the mind of a human into a robot is definitely a tricky business, but it's effective. So long as a copy of me exists somewhere, I can't die; just get re-uploaded. I tell you though, I definitely miss some of the more… primal feelings of being human."

Ignoring that last comment, he tried to get some more info. "I was told to come here and meet with the team before deployment. Any idea of what's happening?"

Tyra nodded. "Yeah. It's a normal refueling run for the frigate. Usually we'd head back to Harmony for fuel, but it's a bit out of the way right now, so we're going to be docking on Tyche. It's a sympathizer settlement, but not Militia controlled, so we'll be acting as guards against any IMC presence that happens to come across us, as unlikely as it is."

He nodded. Made sense, one would want the frigate to be protected during one of the few times it would be vulnerable.

"So, who's the acting commander of the team here?"

Vale nodded her head toward him with a slight whirr of machinery. "You're lookin' at her. Speaking of which, I should probably attend to my job…"

She turned and addressed the group of eight. "Pilots, gear up! We're heading out in 5!"

The rest of them began to check their weapons and gear, ensuring that it was in order. He turned to her.

"What are their names?"

She shook her head. "Bad question. Out here on the frontier, I've found that it's best not to get to know people. Keeps you from making attachments. Keeps you from mourning when they die."

Tyra shook her head. "And on that cheery note, let's head out of here."

…

" _All dropships, prepare to sync jumps with the frigate!"_

Tobias could hear the voice over the comms talking to the pilot. All dropships were accounted for, and hovering somewhere around the massive Militia ship. The pilot flipped a few switches while the rest of them stood in the drop bay, listening.

" _Green one is in position."_

" _Green two is in position."_

" _Green three standing by."_

"Green four is in position."

" _Green five is ready."_

" _On mark. Three, two, one… mark!"_

Immediately, ships began to enter warp-jumps. With a course plotted for Tyche, the pilot flipped a lever and the stars became blurred lines stretch back past the viewport.

He looked around to see most of the group holding grips in the roof of the dropship. All except for Vale, who it seemed took her immortality a bit too much for granted. Considering how fond he was of his own body, he opted to hold onto the grips above. Only a few more seconds, and they'd exit warp-space-

" _-everywhere! I repeat, we've got IMC bogeys everywhere! No, look out! Contact-"_

An explosion was heard over the comms before it swapped to radio static. As the view of warp-space transitioned back to normal space, Tobias was shocked to see fighters zipping through the void around the frigate and explosions occasionally blossoming against its shields.

"What the hell is going on?!" Vale yelled to the pilot. They scrambled around, trying to maneuver the craft.

"It looks like they were waiting for us! Tyche must have been compromised with an IMC presence! Dammit!" Indeed, it looked like even more IMC ships were rising from the atmosphere of the blue planet below.

As Tobias looked out the viewports of the dropship, he couldn't help but notice the inversion of the situation. Those IMC ships had once been allies, but here he was; flying against them and being shot at.

The dropship took a hard right to avoid a missile, and he was glad he was holding onto the grip above. He could hear the pilot talking over the comms up front, "This is green four! We've got multiple hostiles engaging us, I can't get them off our-"

A loud boom came from the right side of the ship, on the wing. "Green four is hit! Mayday, mayday, green four is hit! We're going down!"

The dropship began to plummet further into the atmosphere below, unable to maintain its altitude any longer.

"Unlikely, huh?!" he shouted at Tyra; not out of malice, but just to throw those words back. He couldn't see her expression behind her pilot's helmet, but she sounded smug.

"What's a life on the frontier without a bit of excitement, huh?"

He shook his head. His first real assignment for the Militia, and he was going to die on the first day.

Oh yeah. This was going to be fun.

…

As he came back to the land of the living, he let out a groan. Being able to feel every inch of his bruised and battered body again was not the best way to wake up.

He looked around the interior of the crashed ship, trying to get a sense of what was going on. This wasn't his first crash landing, and it likely wouldn't be his last. But for those two grunts and the dropship pilot, whose bodies were bent at crooked angles, this had definitely been their last.

The drop bay door was open, but bent backwards enough to where it had caved in any chance of escape that way. He supposed that everyone else must have leapt out of the ship before it hit the ground, and he'd been stuck inside. It made him feel lucky to have not ended up like the other three that had been trapped in here as well.

He glanced over at the viewport, its glass cracked and ready to break from the crash. Through it, he could see that the hip was in the side of a large hill or something, and a clearing surrounded it before some woodland popped up.

Standing up from the ground, he could feel the bruises forming on his knees and shins. Ignoring the pain for now, he walked over to the glass. He tried slamming it a few times to see how weak it was. It was definitely strong enough to keep him in here if he only used his fists, but a bit more force might shatter it…

Taking a few steps backwards, he ran at the glass and used his thrusters. It propelled him into the glass hard, but he heard it give a bit. He stepped back, and rubbed his shoulder, now aching from the impact. It didn't matter, he'd have to keep doing that if he wanted to escape.

He gave it another try. It began to bend outwards a bit, but not budging enough. He grunted in pain as his shoulder continued to take a beating.

"…Help…"

He heard the voice through one of the many cracks in the dropship. It definitely hadn't come from inside, so he looked out to see if he could spot someone. There on the ground, in a bit of a clearing only a few meters from the dropship, was a grunt. One of the only two grunts still alive, it would seem. They were on the ground, holding their right leg which appeared to be broken.

"Hey!"

The grunt looked around for whoever was talking, and Tobias tapped on the glass to get his attention. "Sit tight, alright? Once I'm out of here, I'll come grab you."

He relaxed. "Oh, thank God."

Tobias gave it another slam with the thrusters. Not broken yet. "Where are the others?"

"I heard them on the radio, they landed a few clicks from here. I got caught last second… landed badly here. One of the pilots, McFarlane, and my squad mate are coming here for us, while the other two find somewhere to rendezvous."

Tobias nodded. That made sense. "Alright, well give me a few more tries here-"

 _Rumble._

 _Rumble._

He froze, making sure it wasn't just the ship. "Did you feel that?"

"Yeah, what was that?"

 _Shit._

"Just hang on!" He sped up, trying to accelerate the process. He thrusted.

A little bit more.

He thrusted.

A little bit-

 _Rumble._

Finally, the source was revealed. A Titan came into view from out of the woodland, a Stryder class. He knew that the IMC was using every last resource at their disposal, including the original classes. Soon though, they'd likely be phased out entirely now that the Militia had managed to steal the blueprints for the six newer classes.

In any matter, the Stryder made its way over to the grunt on the ground. Tobias kept trying to break the glass to no avail.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

He heard the pilot inside the Stryder talking through the external speakers to the grunt. The man on the ground began to try and crawl away.

 _Shit!_

"N-no, please!"

With one final thrust, he forced the glass to shatter and flew through the opening. Tumbling onto the ground, he looked up just in time to see the Titan place its foot over the grunt, and violently crush the man. He was horrified by what he'd just seen, and didn't really know what to do. He'd failed to save the man, and now there was nothing left of them but a bloody stain on the ground.

The Titan turned towards him. "Where'd you come from? I didn't know we had another pilot running around here."

Tobias still had the element of surprise on him, but not for long as they noticed the scratched logo of the militia on his shoulders. "Wait a second-"

Without any time to waste, Tobias reached around for an arc grenade. He chucked it at the Titan, and stunned its ocular systems momentarily.

"What the hell?!"

Risking it, he took the chance to run forward and leap onto the hull of the Stryder. He reached around for his issued CAR, but found that it must have been knocked loose in the crash. Reaching instead for his sidearm, he only had enough time to let a few shots off into the hull of the Titan before it extended its arm and wrapped its hand around him, pulling him off. It held him in front of the main body of the chassis, where the cameras would be able to show him to the pilot.

"Another deserter, eh?"

 _Rumble._

"Well, why don't we show you exactly what happens to deserters?"

 _Rumble._

Just as the grip of the Titan began to squeeze, the spectacle was cut short by another Titan slamming into the Stryder. Tobias felt it let go of him, and he fell to the ground. Using his thrusters, he boosted himself out of harm's way from the legs of each, and he looked at the new arrival.

It was a North Star accompanied by a grunt who began to run towards Tobias. He supposed that this meant that the North Star was McFarlane, and he had to have called in his Titan to fight.

The grunt came up next to him, and began to ask questions. "You alright, pilot? We didn't think that anyone could have survived that crash-"

Suddenly, a reflected blast from the Stryder landed right behind the grunt and blew him to pieces. The grunt's body had protected Tobias from most of the blast, but the concussive force still blew him backwards and into the hull of the ship, where he slumped to the ground against the metal.

"Come on!" He heard McFarlane yelling at the Stryder as they continued to dish out blows to one another. The North Star was definitely the superior Titan class, and should come out ahead-

As though he had jinxed it, the Stryder suddenly boosted forward and knocked McFarlane onto his back. Tobias reached out a hand as though to help, but his vision was swimming. He couldn't do anything but watch as the Stryder jammed its 40 mm cannon into the cockpit of the North Star, and then promptly fired directly into it. The hull of the Titan blew up, and Tobias knew that it was a fool's gambit to hope that McFarlane was even remotely alive.

He had one last ace up his sleeve. He knew nobody would likely be around to hear his request, so he manually selected hit through his wrist interface, and then used his HUD to pinpoint the location. Once it was done, he began counting down from ten.

The Stryder walked away from McFarlane and his Titan's corpse, and towards Tobias.

Seven.

It held out the cannon directly at Tobias. The pilot took a second to gloat. "Doesn't look like your choice was the right one. I hope you realize that."

Four.

They snorted. "I don't know how you all knew we were here, but rest assured; none of you will be following us to Erebus."

One.

They laughed again. "Say goodbye, traitor-"

With a resounding boom that echoed through the woods, the Stryder was obliterated by the Titanfall. Once the smoke had cleared, Tobias looked to see KT standing in the Stryder's place. She came closer.

"Where is the fight, pilot?"

He laughed. "You're standing on top of 'em."

The Ion looked down at her feet to see the remains of the Stryder. "I see."

He furrowed his brow, and began to put pieces together; why the IMC were unexpectedly at a refueling station, and what the Stryder had said. "Do you know of the Erebus system?"

"I can't seem to find it in my data banks. Why?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I think that we're onto something here. Whatever the IMC was doing here, it's not just a normal refueling raid. Their tactics weren't that of an attack; it was defensive."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I don't think they were expecting us; I think that they're just trying to get somewhere, and we stumbled across them. And whatever it is they're doing… I don't like it."


	6. A New Lead

_**Four's Logbook**_

 _Thanks to KT's timely arrival, that Stryder is nothing but dust. Before he died, he said something about the Erebus system. As far as I remember, it's IMC controlled, but I don't know much more than that. I suppose that they must have been doing something there in the last month or so since I changed sides. I don't think that they were waiting for us here at Tyche; I think that they were just refueling some of their ships that are going to this Erebus, and we happened to stumble upon them. Whatever it is that they're doing there, it can't be good._

 _The Remnant Fleet of the IMC seems to be getting more and more aggressive, as shown by that Stryder. I would have never seen Jospert or Yodel do something like that, playing with a man before they killed them. I think that without contact to the core worlds, the IMC cares more about winning than they do about the morality of their goals anymore. Maybe it's a good thing that I got out of it when I did._

 _In any matter, KT and I received a transmission from Vale and Tyra to rendezvous a few clicks north of here. Most of the IMC fleet has left the system, we just have to make it to the evac zone and wait for transport. We're en route. I have to get this newfound info to the head of the SRS, Sarah Briggs. She'll know what to do about Erebus._

* * *

Riding on the Titan's shoulder, Tobias was able to look every which way and monitor his tracker for hostiles while KT carried them both to the LZ. So far, they hadn't come across any other IMC forces. It seemed like they were pulling out of the system; they just hadn't been prepared to fight them, and had tried to flee as quickly as possible.

He looked in the corner of his HUD, where the status of squad-mates could be seen. Both Vale and Tyra's statuses had their current heartbeat (or in Tyra's case at least, Vale had some kind of reading for her core processor; it looked way more erratic than a human's heartbeat, but at least it meant she was functioning), and a green light to indicate that they were alive. But McFarlane and all of the grunts' lights were red, with flatlines for pulses.

He hadn't known McFarlane, his only real interaction being that less than enthusiastic welcome that he'd received from the man; but that didn't mean he didn't feel sorry for his death. He had saved Tobias from the Stryder, likely because he'd seen that he was truly dedicated to the Militia cause now. In the end, McFarlane was the reason he was still breathing, and he thanked the man for that.

"We are approaching the rendezvous point. Be sure to check the surrounding area and ensure that we are alone."

He heeded KT's advice, and looked at his tracker. No FOF tags could be seen, and he decided to chance a transmission. "Vale, Tyra, you copy?"

" _We're here, Four. Where are you?"_

"We're coming in now, should be there in a few more seconds."

" _Copy that. See you then."_

Indeed, KT only had to walk a few more meters before they broke the cover of the woodlands and entered a small clearing near the edge of a cliff. Now, he was able to look up and see the massive Militia frigate in the sky, coming down to refuel since the IMC ships had left the position open and available.

"Four! Over here!"

He looked down from his perch atop KT to where Vale waved him over. He let himself fall to the ground, and moved forward while the Titan stayed where she was and continued to look around the surrounding area.

Tyra glanced over at her. "That your Titan?"

He nodded. "Yeah. KT-0298."

"I could have sworn that was the ID of Captain Shears' Titan. How'd she end up with you?"

He sighed. "Long story."

Vale shook her head at Tyra. "One we don't have time for. We need to call in a dropship to pick us up, but we don't have long-range communications or a distress beacon."

Tobias held up a hand with one in it. "I think you do now."

She was taken aback, and reached forward to grab the small device from his grasp. "How did-"

He shrugged. "When you first told us to Rendezvous here, I scavenged what I could from the interior of the ship. Grabbed that, some flares… and quite a few dog-tags."

Vale nodded. "It's a shame. McFarlane was a hothead for sure; but a good pilot. Like I said before, it's best not to make attachments." Turning back towards the cliff, she pressed a few buttons on the beacon. A soft orange light lit up on it, and she held it up to her speakers on the front of her cuboid head.

"Warrant Officer Vale to SRS Marauder frigate, 'Soaring Griffin'. Griffin, do you copy?"

There was a moment of static, and then a voice said, _"We read you, Warrant Officer."_

"My team's dropship crashed, and we've suffered several casualties. Requesting evac at our current location for three humans and a Titan."

" _Tracking your position… done. An adequate dropship will be around to pick you up shortly, we're still sorting out other locations of stranded teams as well."_

"Understood. Vale out."

With that, she turned back to the rest of the small group. "Well, time to get comfortable and settle in; we might be here for a while."

Tyra groaned, but Tobias just walked over to KT who had come closer to them, and stepped into her outstretched hand. She raised him up to her shoulder, where he sat.

Vale looked up at him curiously. "Well Four, it looks like we've got time for that tale of yours now."

He glanced over at her. "Huh?"

She gestured at him and KT with her hand. "What Tyra asked earlier, how'd you end up with KT?"

He looked at the Titan, her blue eye staring right back at him. She was waiting to see if he'd tell them. Giving in, he gave a sigh of regret and began to tell them.

He told them about how the skirmish on Nedar had left him stranded in the snow, and how he'd come across Shears while he'd been dying. He told them how KT let him go, and how he had retrieved a battery for her. He told them about Gates, and how Dimitri had interrogated him to see if he was Militia material. Once he had finished, he looked back at them. Obviously, Vale's held no expression, but Tyra seemed to have a look of generous admiration.

"So you really just want peace for the frontier? Yet, you fight on the losing side now?"

He shrugged. "I want peace on the frontier, but I'm not willing to lose my soul in order to achieve it. With the way the IMC is acting now, I'm glad I managed to swap when I did. I'd rather go down fighting for something I believe in than to live with a guilty conscience. Sure, there's more than enough criminal and outlaws on the side of the IMC," he said with a smirk, "but I know that not all of you are bad. Nowadays, I'm not so sure about the IMC." He frowned. "Seems like their tactics are getting more desperate, more nonchalant about loss of life."

Tyra snorted. "What, the IMC? That's not new."

He shrugged. "I don't know, I was with them for almost two years. I've seen some good people, I've seen some bad people, just like here in the Militia. But the way that Stryder slaughtered McFarlane and that rifleman… something tells me that they're not too concerned with being good anymore. I wonder if Erebus has anything to do with that."

She tilted her head. "Erebus?"

"Something I heard the Stryder say. I think that the IMC are cooking up a plan with this new mindset of theirs, and whatever it is, Erebus is involved. I don't like it."

Silence fell upon the group until the beacon crackled to life again. "This is dropship 43-59 checking in, we are approaching your position Vale, over."

Vale spoke into the device, "Acknowledged, thank you."

The roar of engines grew louder as a gray shape began to grow bigger in the distance, until the dropship finally came close enough to hover on the edge of the cliff. A large door opened in the side of it, revealing more than enough space for a Titan or two.

Gathering their gear, they all hopped into the ship. KT eased slowly into it, as to not disrupt the flight of the ship with her weight, but it appeared that it could more than handle her aboard. With one last look out to the surface of Tyche before the door closed, the ship flew to rejoin with the Griffin and other Militia forces.

…

Tobias made his way around the hangar, looking for two individuals in particular. He'd told KT to wait for him in the Titan barracks, and he'd be back-

" _Pilot, where are you going?"_

He spun around in surprise, ready to ask KT what she was doing following him, only to see that she wasn't there. He cocked his head confusedly.

"KT?"

" _I'm here."_

"Where are you?"

" _In the Titan barracks. I'm speaking to you through our neural link. I can also monitor your progress through a visual feed in your helmet."_

That was new. He didn't know you could do that as a pilot. Definitely useful, though. "Alright. Well, I'm going to Captain Gates and Dimitri. I wanted to let them know about what that pilot said, about Erebus."

" _Understood. Do you think that the Militia is in danger?"_

He paused for a moment at the sudden question. "I don't know, Kay. I don't. But I do know that before this, I knew nothing about the Erebus system; which tells me that the IMC are keeping a lot of this info secret from even their own soldiers. This can't be something that's just happened in the last month to warrant a group that large to refuel. I think that I might have caught onto something bigger than just a refueling raid."

She said nothing.

"Kay?"

" _I will talk to you when you return, Pilot."_

That was odd. Making a mental note to ask her about it later, he jogged over to where he'd finally spotted that signature dark-blue of Gates' pilot uniform.

"Gates!"

She turned, having been looking at a holo disc for status updates of their losses. "Four! What can I do for you?"

"I need to speak to Sarah Briggs."

Gates head jerked back. "I'm sorry?"

"It's important."

She shook her head. "Four, Briggs is _the_ head of the Militia, not just the SRS. I'm not sure how important whatever you're referring to is, but you might not be as high on her list of priorities as you think-"

He cut her off. "I've found information that could potentially be devastating to the Militia."

Which meant that he'd overheard some guy say the name of a random planet, but his version sounded like it would get Gates' attention faster. Indeed, she stopped speaking and crossed her arms. "Talk."

"When I was down on Tyche, I ran into a pilot in a Stryder Titan. He tried to kill me, but he let something about the Erebus system slip. I think that the IMC were just here to refuel before heading there, they weren't waiting for us. And whatever's happening on Erebus sounded very important to this guy, like there's a plan behind it."

Gates sighed. "That's a weak case, and you know it."

He said nothing, silently agreeing with her but still waiting to hear a response from her.

Shaking her head, she tapped the side of her helmet. "This is Gates to bridge. I've got… something. Yeah, I know that sounds- look, it may be a lead on something important, alright? Might be something that Briggs herself wants to know about. Yes, I'm serious. Yes. Alright, thanks."

She glared at Tobias. "Four, you better damn hope that Briggs likes what you have to say. I've stuck my neck out for you on this one."

He nodded. "Thanks."

She snorted. "Either way, I don't think there's thanks to go around. If you're wrong, then both of our reputations might be a bit scratched. If you're right… then the Militia might have a bit more to worry about than we thought."


	7. As a Riverstone

_**Four's Logbook**_

 _I told Gates about what I heard down on Tyche. She still seems skeptical, but she made the call to request an audience with Briggs. If Briggs gets back to us, then we're in business. I hope that she can put whatever kind of info I've got to good use. I also hope that this doesn't totally blow up in my face, and Gates becomes pissed with me._

 _When KT contacted me earlier, something seemed off. It was like… I don't know, like she was apprehensive or something. Haven't seen her like this before. I'm heading back to the Titan barracks to talk with her, see if I can figure out what's going on._

* * *

Tobias walked into the Titan barracks; they weren't really barracks like humans had, they were just referred to as such. In reality, it was pretty much just a large space where Titans resided until they were placed in titanfall pods, or where they were kept when they weren't active. There were many chassises that were hung up on racks on the walls, and spare parts were lying around every so often. Inactive Titans either were unmoving and stationary in a neutral standing position, or were on one of the aforementioned racks.

Apparently that neural link allowed him to communicate directly with KT. He thought about transmitting to her, and tested it; "KT, you here?"

"Yes, pilot."

The voice didn't come from the neural link, but from off to his right. Looking over, he saw the Titan making her way over to him. He took off his helmet, and crossed his arms with it held in one of his hands.

"Kay, what's up?"

Her blue eye blinked. "To what are you referring to?"

He sighed. "You've had a few odd moments before, but you've never sounded as… almost fearful as you did over that transmission. Is everything alright?"

She hesitated for a few moments, and he waited for her to speak. The seconds dragged on as each stared the other down, waiting for the other to make a move, much like they had on that first night they'd met on Nedar.

"Do you remember when I met you in the hangar after having my chassis repaired, the day you joined the Militia?"

He tilted his head. He didn't know where this was going, but he figured he'd see it through. "Yeah, I remember. I was people-watching."

"Yes. I told you that you were unusual; that you seemed to have a fascination with taking risks, much like how you argued against my decommissioning."

He nodded. "Yeah, because you were pretty much-"

"Your only friend."

He was taken aback. Was that what this was about?

She looked away. "Titans are not friends. Our pilots, and other humans are our friends. But they do not often consider us to be the same." She glanced back at him. "You, however… you refer to me as a friend as easily as you would a human. Not even Shears would have considered Titans to be more than companions; military hardware with human-like traits, yes, but not much more."

He was a bit shocked to hear all this coming out at once. He hadn't realized that she'd thought about all of this.

"So when you first called me a friend, I was unsure of how to respond. I decided that I would continue to monitor our interactions, the way we fight together, talk together. And I realized that I consider you my friend as well."

She stared down at the ground, almost dejectedly.

"I am worried."

He moved closer, so he could put himself back into her line of sight. "About what?"

Her eye moved and locked gazes with him. "Though admittedly you have proven that survival is not your top priority, I was concerned for a time that you had only accepted the offer to join the Militia because you deemed it the safest option. To be clear, I thought you were only joining because you wanted to live."

"What?"

"I've come to understand that you are motivated by more than that, but I must admit; I was very anxious when you told me that there could be a threat to the Militia. I had a momentary fear that you would abandon me, and return to the IMC if you believed that they had a better chance of winning with the possibility of a new power to beat the Militia."

That was not what he'd been expecting at all. "You're afraid of me leaving you?"

Again, she looked down almost as though she were embarrassed. "I understand that this is not the case; but I could not help it. You are my only… friend, here as well, and I do not want to lose you."

He sighed, and snapped his fingers to get her attention. Her eye snapped back to him, and he smiled at her.

"Kay, I'm not going anywhere. There's no way that I'm ditching you, believe me."

He patted her leg as she blinked at him. "I never break a promise; so when I say that I _promise_ to never abandon you, and that we're gonna be together for quite a while, you can bet that I mean it."

Her eye nodded, and she spoke again; but this time with a warmer and grateful tone. "Thank you, Pilot. I'm happy to hear it."

"No problem, KT. Why don't you deactivate for the night? I'll see you tomorrow." She nodded and turned towards one of the racks. He left her to her business, and made his way back to the bridge.

…

"Kid, I hope you know what you're talking about."

Tobias exhaled, and nodded. He was ready for this; he was just hoping that this didn't all go downhill.

One of the bridge crew members opened up a screen on a monitor while he and Gates waited. "Patching video feed through in three… two… connection established. Good luck."

Gates nodded respectfully at the monitor. "Commander."

A woman on the monitor nodded back. _"Gates. Good to see you."_

Gates chuckled. "And you as well, ma'am."

Briggs had a pale complexion, and a red bandana that wrapped around her head, keeping her hair spiked up in a vertical path. Definitely looked like someone he wouldn't want to pick a fight with. She gestured at him.

" _As I understand it, you're the soldier who claims to have important information?"_

He nodded, and stepped forward while Gates gave him space. "Yes, ma'am."

" _Who are you?"_

"PFC Tobias Four. Unless the Militia has decided to repeal my rank."

Briggs furrowed her eyebrow. _"What do you mean by that?"_

Shit. He looked to Gates for help, but she waved at the screen. "Not my place to tell her; go on."

He sighed. "I'm ex-IMC. I joined up with the Militia a month and a half ago."

Sarah nodded. _"That's alright."_

He was taken aback. "What?"

" _Our previous top commander, James MacAllan, was a former IMC officer. In fact, one of our current lead commanders, Marcus Graves, was one too; though I ultimately hold the highest position of leadership. I've seen that it's not black and white in this war, and I'm willing to accept those who try to make up for their actions."_

He nodded. It was a very gracious move of her to tell him that; she was essentially telling him that she was going to trust him on this one. "The Griffin moved to Tyche in order to refuel before regrouping with another portion of the Militia fleet. When we arrived, we found that the IMC were already there."

She nodded. _"They were waiting."_

"No, or at least I don't think so. These tactics were totally wrong for an ambush; it almost seemed like they were more surprised to see us than we were to see them. Once we arrived, they only fought us long enough to flee and get their ships out of the system."

She looked intrigued. He continued.

"When my team was stranded on the planet, I ran into an enemy Titan. Its pilot said something about the fleet moving to the Erebus system; it sounded like they were planning something, and he thought we were trying to stop them."

Briggs nodded, processing the information. _"So…"_

"I think that the IMC is moving a portion of their fleet to Erebus, where they're working on something. It could be nothing… or, as I believe, it could be something that they think will aid in their cause against the Militia. One thing I've learned in my service with them, is that they never do a job halfway."

Briggs narrowed her eyes. _"Got that right. What are you proposing?"_

He tilted his head confusedly. "Me?"

" _That's right; what would you do?"_

Was she testing him? What was this? In any matter, he decided to tell her exactly what she asked. "I would want to immediately follow up on this. Maybe not send the fleet, but some kind of scouting party. If we can figure out where this Erebus system is, then we can send people to figure out what exactly is happening there, and if the Militia needs to take note of it."

Briggs regarded him with something in her eyes. Was that… respect?

" _Thing is… I agree with you. We may be stronger than we once were, but if something were to give the IMC an edge over us in straight combat… I don't think that we'd be around much longer. We definitely need to investigate this."_

She raised an eyebrow. _"Four, what section of the Militia are you in? Freelance, one of Barker's people, what?"_

"The SRS Marauder Corps, ma'am."

" _So my division, then. Well, Four, you are no longer a PFC. I'm promoting you to Lieutenant. And as your first assignment, I want you to lead a team to investigate this Erebus system."_

He jerked his head. "Wait, what?"

Even Gates seemed a bit shocked. "Ma'am, that _does_ seem a bit rash…"

Briggs shook her head. _"In this war, things move very fast. Blink, and you might miss them. We don't have time to wait for people to gain the proper ranks, hell, we aren't even a proper military, we're a Militia; a rebel force. Fact of the matter is, these ranks are really just for command purposes. They may not mean anything to the rest of the galaxy, but they mean something to us."_ She looked at him again. _"Are you willing to accept that?"_

She had said that the war moved fast, but this was like being strapped to the front of a dropship. Still, she had a point. The war was definitely something that they could not afford to lose, and they might need someone like him on a mission like this. He knew the IMC, how they fought, their standard compound layouts. But you can't really be sending a Private to lead a black op, can you? So he understood her motivation, and finally came to a decision.

"Yes, ma'am."

She nodded. _"Good. I'll work with some of my advisers here, and we'll lay our more of the framework for this op in the coming week. For now, tell no one else of this until we have more details. Understood?"_

He nodded. "Understood."

" _Good. Briggs out."_

With that, the video feed ended. Gates stood there a moment, and then turned to face him. "Four, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, though inside he was shaking. "I have no idea."

* * *

 _A/N: This is a shorter chapter, yes, but not because of time or anything; believe me, I love writing this fic. But this chapter just doesn't work if it's extended too long; it works best if I end it right here._

 _I've seen so many awesome reviews by you guys, telling me how good the writing is and how much you guys look forward to each chapter; I've even had some of you PM me about it with things like that. Because of you guys, this pic is now the most EVERYTHING (reviewed, followed, favorited) fic in the Titanfall section of the site. Although to be fair, that's because there's really only about 33 stories here. Hopefully because of Titanfall 2's release, more people begin writing stories for it._

 _Every praise makes me feel ecstatic! I love writing, but I love it even more when the people reading it love it too! Remember to review, favorite, and follow, and I'll see you later! Until the next time,_

 _\- Matteoarts_


	8. The Kraken

_**Four's Logbook**_

 _These last few weeks have definitely been busy ones. With my promotion to lieutenant, Gates and Dimitri have been working alongside me to help me work out the barebones of this plan that we and Briggs are cooking up. So far, it consists of getting a team to find out exactly where Erebus is in the first place. It's not on any charts that the Militia have, it may even just be a ghost planet; a code name for a different world they're calling it under._

 _So that's where the first stage of the plan comes in. Obviously, the IMC are holding this information from the majority of their troops, which means that we're gonna have to find someone high ranking to steal the information from. And where better than the bridge of an IMC frigate? More specifically, a frigate that yours truly used to serve on, and knows his way around._

 _I'm sure that if there's any way for us to find Erebus, it will be in the navigational logs of the frigate. Data is shared and transmitted throughout the entire IMC fleet so that, if needed, they can converge a massive presence on one location in less than an hour. Believe me, it's worked many times before. Kind of feels wrong for me to say that, actually. Forget I said anything. I'm on the right team now, that's all in the past._

* * *

Briggs nodded her digital head thoughtfully. _"You're sure it will be there?"_

He nodded. This was roughly the hundredth time she'd asked him this, but he understood her concern. She was trusting him a lot with this, and she was reluctant to deploy any of her forces without an assurance that their efforts weren't in vain.

"Yes, ma'am. Jantii is a main refueling station for several frigates, but my former station used to be particularly fond of it. Quite close to its patrol range. They're bound to be there sooner or later, and with the calculations I've made based on the average time between past refuelings, it should be twelve days from today."

" _And if we miss this opportunity?"_

He clenched his jaw. "It would be several more months, ma'am."

Gates and Dimitri looked at him from the sidelines. She nodded encouragingly. All this time, and he still had never seen her without a helmet on. He swore that she lived in the damn pilot suit.

She had grown increasingly convinced of his assertion over the last few weeks, and now she was hoping just as much as he was that Briggs would approve the plan. He waited with bated breath.

Briggs sighed. _"This is so goddamn risky… and if you miss your exfil, I'm sure that you're going to overstay your welcome."_

He grimaced. He knew full well what the IMC thought of deserters, and what they'd do to them. "It's a necessary risk that I'm willing to take, ma'am.

She regarded him with respect for a moment before reaching a verdict. _"Approval granted. Gates, please keep him from doing anything too stupid."_

"Not a problem, ma'am, I'm on it," said Gates with a cheerful tone. The monitor winked out to blackness, and Dimitri turned to face him.

"Four?"

He faced him. "Yeah?"

Dimitri grinned. "Let's do this."

…

"KT?"

The Titan came out from further in the Titan barracks to see him walking towards her. "Hello, pilot."

"C'mere, I got something to show you." Indeed, he had several items in his hands. Then she noticed something else.

"Why are you not in armor?"

"Got it here in my hands. Part of what I wanted to show you." She began to analyze him and the items. Standard Militia pilot armor, his own IMC armor set, and he was wearing a white and blue jumpsuit of the Militia's; blue for the legs and making an upward chevron on the waist, and white for the sleeves and majority of the torso. It would covered in the standard grey pads and makeshift armor that the Militia used for its pilots, as well as a standard chest plate.

Carefully, he grabbed his old armor set, and pulled out his data knife. Gently, he pried the shoulder pads with his custom Militia logo on them out of their looked positions in the armor. He attached straps to them, and hooked them around his current set of Militia gear, where the emblem could be seen by anyone. Then, he began to apply the Militia pads and armor to the suit, ensuring he was covered.

Finally, he grabbed his white and grey helmet, and put it on. She watched as its blue visor swung around to lock gazes with her.

"What do you think?"

She was silent for a moment. "It suits you."

"I thought it might."

She shook her eye slightly. "But I am confused; would your old armor not give you better protection? It is IMC made, after all. The Militia's standards may have improved, but we do not have the resources they do."

He nodded. "No, you're right. It would protect me better." He shrugged. "But it would also separate us."

"I do not understand."

"I'm your pilot. You are my Titan. And knowing what I do about your fears of me abandoning you…" He came a bit closer. "I wanted to show you that I'm one of you now. I'm one of the good guys. We're a team, you and I. And I need to look the part just as much as I need to act it."

She was silent for a minute. "And you're doing this for me?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah."

She blinked. "Thank you."

That simple thanks told him all he needed about how much she appreciated what he'd done. She knew that he was more exposed without his old armor, but he didn't care as long as their link was strong. And he was willing to make sacrifices to put her above himself. As she'd said before, he was quite unusual.

He sighed exasperatedly as she looked on, and then voiced a concern of his.

"Do you think we can do it, KT?"

The Titan looked at him oddly. For a massive war machine, the Ion chassis was surprisingly capable of expressing mood and thoughts. "Are you asking me about the success of the mission?"

Tobias nodded. "Yeah, I am. I think."

She seemed to agree with it so far, but he wasn't convinced. Not of her faith in the plan, but in the reliability of the plan itself.

KT seemed to consider it for a moment. "To be honest, it is quite dangerous. The risk in it is very great if it fails."

He nodded, accepting that.

"But I don't believe it will fail."

He glanced up at her. She looked at him and nodded with her eye. "The Militia has always utilized risky and dangerous plans. Yours is no exception. But if there's one thing I trust about the plan… it is you, pilot. I trust you."

He smiled, and patted her on the leg. "Glad to hear it, Kay."

"Four!"

He turned to see two familiar faces striding towards him. "Vale, Tyra. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

As he looked on, two other Titans appeared behind them; a Ronin class and a Scorch class. KT stood up properly, likely sizing herself up against these two.

Vale stepped forward. "Gates told us that you requested for us to be part of the team to carry out this scheme of yours. That true?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"Why? You barely know us. Plus, considering your fast promotion," she muttered subtly, "it's not like you're in any particular need of a warrant officer and a sergeant."

He shook his head. "That's not why I chose you. See, you already said it. Regardless of how little I truly know you two, I at least know you."

The Stim simulacrum tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"You saw how McFarlane initially distrusted me. I can't afford to be making new friends, I need people who trust me right now." He looked at them hard. "Honest question, do you trust me?"

Tyra looked to her companion for a moment as their Titans shifted behind them. She faced Tobias and shrugged. "All I know is that you've had a chance to go back to the IMC with that info, and you didn't. I'm not sure if I trust you, but I'll definitely follow your lead." Vale seemed to agree with a slight nod.

He too gave a quick nod. "That's good enough for me. So are you in?"

Vale gave her approval, "You can count on us."

He gave her a thumbs up, and then turned to the mechs behind them. "So, these are your Titans?"

Tyra nodded, and gestured towards the Scorch. It was the same sand-dune kind of tan color that most Scorches were. "I prefer being a heavy hitter, so this is my guy here. CH-1134. He's my second Titan. I lost my first one a few years back." She sighed. "It wasn't a great feeling. But Cee and I have been linked ever since."

He nodded, and glanced at Vale. The simulacrum crossed her arms in a cocky pose.

"This here is SKD-3812. He was my first Titan, and I was his first pilot. That was back when I was still human. We linked nearly four years ago, and haven't been apart since." She chuckled. "I call him Skids, on account of the fact that the bodies of his enemies tend to skid across the floor."

Her Titan was mostly black, with some gold accents on various parts of its body. The Titan grabbed the massive sword that was standard for Ronins off its back, and held its point toward the ground. Tobias had to admit, it looked pretty badass.

"Well, I'm assuming that they'll be ready for deployment as well?"

"Affirmative." Skids sounded exactly how he pictured the Titan would sound; cool, sharp, and to the point.

He clapped his hands together. "Well, let's work out any last-minute kinks in the plan, and get a move on."

* * *

Twelve Days Later

* * *

The dropship broke Jantii's atmosphere, and descended through the clouds as the wind whistled by the viewport and doors. All of the occupants aboard could feel the tension radiating off of one another. The pressure of this mission to go right was very great.

Deploying in this ship were Tobias, Tyra, Vale, and Gates. There were two other dropships with them, one with Dimitri in it, and other pilots that Gates had selected for the mission herself.

" _Man, that wind is just messing with my nerves. Pretty ominous sounding, huh?"_ He heard the transmission from the other ship, and watched as Gates held a hand to the side of her helmet.

"What's your name, pilot?"

" _Davis, ma'am."_

"Alright, well Briggs told me to pick you lot for your skills, not for your mouth. So shut it."

" _You got it."_

"Is he in your ship, Dee?"

Dimitri came onto the comms. _"Affirmative."_

"Well, if he opens his mouth again, you and Bear are welcome to shut it for him."

He heard Dimitri laugh as a new voice came onto the comms, also cheerful. _"Gladly, Captain!"_

She faced Tobias. "I had to select randoms as well my men from the 6-4. Hopefully, they know what they're doing."

He nodded. He knew that the 6-4, who he'd asked to help, were relatively small and there was no way the mission would succeed without others. As far as he knew, it was just Gates, Dimitri, Bear, and Jax. He'd met the latter two a few days prior. They seemed alright, if a little too enthusiastic about the prospect of fighting.

"How close are we to the coordinates?" Gates yelled to the dropship pilot. They checked something on a monitor.

"Fairly close ma'am, roughly two minutes out. Be warned, there's a massive storm approaching. Might make the drop a bit more interesting." Indeed, they could all hear the slight creaking of the dropship as the elements jostled it around.

Gates looked over at Tobias. "Alright Four. You ready?"

He nodded, if not a bit fast. Getting from the dropship to the IMS Kraken was going to be the most terrifying part for sure. He decided to try one last tactic to ease his nerves.

"Hey, KT; you there?"

" _Yes, pilot. Standing ready."_

He nodded. "That's good. Makes me feel a little less alone, I suppose. You'll be here the whole way through?"

" _Through thick and thin."_

"Good, because I get the feeling like we're about to have a lot of that."

The viewports finally broke free of the clouds, and all the occupants were treated with the sight of a shadowy blue ocean below them, land far away from reach, and a refueling depot smack dab in the middle of the water. Dark clouds littered the sky, and one could see the occasional flash of lightning. Rain pelted the windows, and fell in torrents from the aforementioned clouds.

Stationed next to the depot was the IMC frigate. Rather than being thick and block shaped like many other frigates, it looked more like an enormous hover-plane, with four massive rotating engines blades in cylindrical chutes on the four corners of the ship. It could function as a space faring craft, or as an in-atmosphere threat.

"We have reached the Kraken! All teams, deploy! Go, go, go!"

The drop bay doors opened as the pilots yelled for them to jump, and all three teams leapt out of the ships into the air. He felt the sensation of weightlessness as free-fall took him, and he looked for a landing target.

" _Pilot, from your helmet feed, I've calculated that the best area to land would be here."_

A little blue square appeared on his HUD near the center of the top of the ship. It was far enough away from the bridge that they likely wouldn't be detected too early, but still able to be an annoyance.

"Oh, so not in the giant spinning blades?"

 _"Very funny."_

He grinned, satisfied that she was responding to his sarcasm. He decided to take her up on her advice, and began aiming for that section she'd highlighted. He glanced around, looking at Gates, Vale, and Tyra as they all fell. Dimitri, and the others were a bit farther spaced in the sky. Hopefully they'd manage to regroup fairly quickly.

Gates spoke through the comms, _"Thrusters in three…two… mark!"_

He activated his jump kit's thrusters. It was amazing technology, to be able to take all this downward momentum and reverse it without any adverse effects to the user. He felt himself slow down considerably, and hover for a moment in the air. Then he dropped the remaining fifteen feet to the top of the Kraken below.

"Alright, Team A is clear. Just waiting on Team B and…" Gates stopped talking and looked skyward. "…C." He followed her gaze, and realized why she'd fallen silent.

B was nearing the ship, but Team C was still coming down. As an unexpected gust of powerful wind picked up, one of them was thrown off course.

" _Jenkins, correct your course! Now, dammit!"_

" _I'm trying, I just can't-"_

The man didn't even have time to scream as he fell straight into one of the massive rotor blades that adorned the ship. Red liquid splashed everywhere, but no chunks flew out; he'd been effectively vaporized.

Tobias felt his gut clench a bit. "Jesus…"

Gates beckoned the survivors over. "Hurry! There's no way they didn't detect that-"

On cue, alarms began to ring , echoing throughout the air.

" _Pilot? What's going on?"_

Upon hearing the whirr of machinery, he turned around to see a hole opening in the top of the ship. He knew exactly what that door was.

"Oh, shit."

Gates looked at him. "What?"

"That lift leads straight to the hangar. Usually, it's used for cargo hauling, but if it's coming up then it can be used as reinforcement transportation."

Indeed, the cargo lift came up the shaft, and on it were several grunts and two bright white Titans; a Legion and an Atlas.

" _Four! Talk to me!"_

"KT, things are a bit hectic right now!" He looked to everyone and yelled, "Everyone get to cover!"

One would think that on top of the ship, it would be a pretty open space. Fortunately, there were many ridges and external vents that provided more than enough cover for a person, and they all scrambled to get out of the Titans' view.

"This is Sergeant Pierce, we've got Militia on the ship! I repeat, Militia on the ship!" He heard one of the grunts yell into his radio as the Titans moved forward a few steps to begin attacking. They were instantly forced back by the MGL's and charge rifles that the Militia had brought as Titan-control.

Tobias sat behind cover alongside Gates, and she looked at him, her chest heaving. "Just another day in the Militia, right?"

He groaned. If this was the norm, he'd die of stress long before any bullet took him. He thought quickly about his options.

"Alright, I've got an idea. You're not gonna like it." He then spoke to the entire squad; "Vale, Tyra, I need you two to go up against these guys!" He gestured behind the cover at the Titans, and he saw Vale a ways away. She gave him a thumbs up.

" _Reading you loud and clear."_

"Wait until my mark, I'll call them down. The rest of you, back them up! We'll need you to hold off anyone up here, this is our only extraction point!"

He looked at the sky where the Griffin hung in orbit. "Griffin, I am requesting a titanfall. ID's SKD-3812, CH-1134, and KT-0298."

" _Request acknowledged. Stand by for titanfall."_

He spoke a bit softer, but determined. "Kay, you ready?"

" _On your word."_

He nodded, and turned to Gates. "Follow me."

Then he yelled into the comms, "Mark!"

And he stepped out of cover.


	9. A Sinking Feeling

Several things happened at once.

First, the Titans took notice of Tobias and Gates running for the cargo lift. They hefted their guns, and prepared to stop them from getting past.

The second thing that happened was a flash of light in the sky as the three Titans that he'd called in broke atmosphere, and hurtled down to the top of the ship below. Under normal circumstances, any object falling with the mass and speed that a Titan did would go right through the ground and create a massive crater. Luckily, as with pilot kit technology, there were precedents in place to prevent that.

So it was because of that technology that the Titans did not completely break through the hull of the ship, and send it sinking into the depths below. Instead, they landed in a defensive line in between the IMC Titans, and the Militia.

Finally, Tyra and Vale sprinted forward to eagerly hop into their respective Titans waiting cockpits, and keep up the defense of both the extraction point and the other Militia pilots. KT watched as he sprinted past her with Gates, and they dove into the cargo lift as it descended down into the hangar.

"KT, I need you to help Tyra and Vale with defending the other Militia!" he ordered.

" _Understood, pilot. Stay safe."_

He nodded subconsciously and turned to Gates as the lift continued to go down. She shrugged helplessly. "What's the plan, Four? We intended to steal the data with twelve people, not two. How the hell are we supposed to manage this?"

He frowned under his helmet. "We'll find a way. We have to. Everyone's depending on it, so failure is not an option."

Gates tilted her head. "You know, you've definitely proved yourself in my eyes. It's a privilege to work with you." He looked up at her as she praised him in that English accent of hers.

"Save the compliments for later, you're making me think we're not gonna make it out of here." She chuckled slightly, bringing a slight smile to his face.

The cargo lift finally left the shaft, and began to descend to the floor of the hangar some sixty feet below. He pointed out a door at the far end. "That way is to the bridge."

"But we've got a hangar of IMC between us and it!" chastised Gates. He nodded.

"Yeah, that's why we're not going that way. Follow me!" Without waiting for her reply, he dove off the lift and into the hangar below. He tossed several smoke grenades, causing many of the IMC soldiers to spin wildly around looking for him. Sliding forward through the fog, he shot at where he thought his target was. A quick glance behind him confirmed that Gates was still following him closely.

His hunch was confirmed when his sliding took him into the far wall, and a bullet-ridden vent cover was seen on the ground, having been shot off its locked placement. Ducking, he quickly entered it.

"A maintenance shaft?" questioned Gates. He nodded.

"Yeah. These shafts run all over so that the engineers can fix any ventilation problems. I figured out a long time ago that there's one major flaw with them; a certain person, say, a Militia pilot, could work their way up to the bridge nearly undetected from anywhere on the ship and nobody would be the wiser."

Gates laughed. "Of course you would have thought about something like that. I hope that if you find any similar flaws in the Griffin, you won't hesitate to voice them."

"No problem."

…

KT was not happy.

First off, she was going into battle without her pilot. It was necessary, yes, but that didn't make it feel any less odd. For the duration of the mission, she'd likely be concerned for his safety, analyzing chances of his survivability, and generally be slightly more inefficient than she would be if her processes were completely devoted to the task at hand.

Now, she was trying to hold off wave after wave of IMC coming up the lift to take back control of the top of the Kraken. The Militia were definitely fighting hard, but they'd already lost several pilots despite Tyra, Vale, and KT's best efforts.

" _You're doing great, ladies!"_ she heard one of them say over the comms.

Vale's voice spoke from Skids' speakers, "Davis, your mouth is supposed to be shut if I recall correctly."

KT spoke over the comms, "6-4; you are much more experienced than the other pilots. We would appreciate your support in assisting up front."

" _Not a problem."_ Dimitri rallied the freelance pilots forward, _"Come on!"_

Dimitri, Bear, and Jax all ran up to the frontline to help the friendly Titans. Over on the right, Tyra and CH were fighting the Atlas. As it stepped slightly too close, the Scorch Titan reached out an arm and hooked it around the enemy. Then with its other hand, it produced a fiery shield that burned away its defenses and began to melt the casing of the Atlas.

"If you can't take the heat, then get the hell out!" she heard Tyra yell through CH's speakers, and they promptly threw the now helpless Titan off the roof and into the depths of the ocean below.

"Nice kill!" yelled Jax, giving some encouragement.

She decided to try and raise Four. "Pilot, where are you?" She wanted to patch into his helmet's video feed, but she was too busy concentrating on the current battle at hand to multi-task.

" _We're in a maintenance shaft, moving towards the bridge. We're both safe."_

She quickly held up a hand and used a vortex shield to catch a burst of shrapnel that the Legion had shot at her. Refocusing her aim, she directed it back at some riflemen who were standing near the lift. Several of them flew back many meters from the impact, while other simply fell into pieces where they stood, sliced apart by the metal.

"Understood. Protocol two: uphold the mission."

" _That's right. I know we planned for twelve of us to be down here, but with only the firepower of two, we had to improvise and go for a more stealthy approach. I'll update you when we get to the bridge."_

She looked back in time to see Skids phase shift right through the Legion, and appear behind it. As it looked around, Vale and Skids drew their sword, impaled the Titan from behind, and then dragged it upwards to cut through the cockpit. Its carcass fell to the ground, completely dead.

" _Get the extraction team here quickly with a large enough dropship, so that you and the other Titans can make it out of here. Get those pilots to safety, they're not doing much besides dying up there."_

"Understood, pilot."

It was only another moment before the lift came back up, this time with a Tone and a North Star. She quickly waved the other pilots back. "Call down the extraction team! You need to evacuate!"

She looked back as the Titans took aim at her, Skids, and Cee. "I hope you hurry, pilot."

Suddenly, the ship lurched a bit, and she looked off to the side to see what was going on.

"This isn't good."

…

Tobias and Gates peered into the bridge from the vent above, looking at who to target. This was a strong point of Gates'.

"Alright, so we hit those two on the left while those three are stunned from the smoke, and then we can move on the computer. I'm surprised that it's not more heavily guarded."

He shook his head. "Any available units must be working on the cargo lift and trying to retake the top of the ship. I don't think that they know our plan yet."

With a massive groan, the Kraken shifted enough to shake him and Gates to their surprise.

"KT?! What's going on?"

" _Whoever is in charge has rightly assumed that we are trying to extract our pilots. They are taking proper measures to ensure that we do not escape."_

"And what would those measures be?"

" _The ship has taken off; we are now airborne over the ocean and moving."_

He swore. "Well… shit."

Gates looked at him with a hard stare. "Is it going to leave atmosphere?"

He shook his head. "No, we interrupted their refueling process. They can't break orbit without reserves. They'll have to return, but it could be awhile." He thought about it for a second.

"Alright. Kay, tell the Griffin to send the extraction team anyway. It's gonna be damn difficult since they'll have to keep up with the ship as it flies, but if you and the other Titans can keep defending long enough, I think you guys can manage."

" _I repeat; you have an obsession with danger."_

He grinned. "That's why I'm so good at dealing with it."

 _"Noted."_

He pointed down to the bridge. "Gates, we have to do this now. Like, _now_."

She nodded. "On your mark."

He held up three fingers, and began putting them down. Three. Two… One…

He made a fist, and they both kicked the vent cover open. Falling to the floor, none of the IMC riflemen had a chance to register what was happening before bullets peppered the room. Within seconds, everyone was dead.

Well, almost everyone.

A man in a professional gray jacket and pressed pants stood up from behind a table he'd been taking cover behind. Tobias nodded his head at him, recognizing him.

"Major Boyles. Haven't seen you in a while."

The Major narrowed his eyes. "How do you know me?"

He shrugged. "Lucky guess. Back against the wall." He raised his CAR at him. There was no way he was going to reveal any info to him, even if he had once been an ally.

Boyle scoffed. "I'm hardly a popular individual in the IMC army, the only way you'd know my name was if you'd served under me. Which make you a deserter."

His grip around the handle of the CAR tightened.

"I wonder from where. We've had several go missing over the last few months. Was it from Wyvern? Nasty business there, though I swore we found all of our bodies. Or maybe it was Nedar the month before, all deployed soldiers accounted for in that dropship's burned husk but one-"

He twitched, and the Major smiled.

"So that's it? Yes, I know it must be shocking to hear that we came back, but we did. Had you stayed a while longer, we would have found you and brought you back. What was the name in the report? Thomas, or something? Wait- no, it was Tobias, wasn't it? PFC Tobias Four. Pilot trainee. Now look at you."

He growled, "What of it?"

"Oh, it's just that, as I'm sure you will remember, data is constantly being streamed between IMC cruisers if it's relevant information. And," Boyle said, motioning to the corners of the room, "the cameras have just caught self-admitted Tobias Four performing a raid on the IMS Kraken. The blackbox will make sure that everyone knows." He grinned a wolf's toothy smile. "I hope you like being a filthy outlaw, traitor-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence as a bullet passed through his chest, taking his breath away. Boyle fell to his knees as Tobias crouched down to steady him so they could see face-to-face.

"I'm not a traitor. Can't betray something if you were never truly part of it." He smiled. "Nedar was just a wake-up call for me to see that I was fighting for the wrong side. Good thing I'm on the right one now."

And with that, he let go of the Major who promptly fell face-first to the floor and gargled out his last moments there. Tobias stepped over his body, and made his way to the main computer station. He stuck his data-knife into it to act both as a storage device, and a hacking tool.

"Four?" Gates followed behind, watching him closely. "Four, what's going to happen to you? Now that the IMC know your name?"

"Don't worry about it." He didn't want to think of it right now. Best case-scenario, they'd just gun for him and put a bounty on his head as the traitor who attacked the Kraken. Worst case… again, he didn't want to think about it.

" _Pilot, the dropships are almost here. Please hurry."_

"Reading you loud and clear, Kay." He motioned to Gates. "Get out of here, and make your way back to the extraction point. I've got this."

"Not a chance, the hell do you think you're doing?" She spoke with an accusatory tone, but he shook his head.

"It only takes one of us to sort through these files, and I know the IMC systems better than you do. No need to risk both of our lives. I'll get out of here as soon as I'm finished. Now go!"

She was silent, which was a good sign; it meant she was considering it. Finally, Gates conceded. "You better be at that dropship. If you die, I'm gonna kick your arse."

He chuckled. "Understood."

Without another word, she left.

…

The roar of the dropships finally came, and KT looked to see some Widow-class dropships pulling up alongside the Kraken as it sped across the sea. The side-doors opened, and a technician beckoned the survivors over.

Dimitri turned to the comms. "Anyone not part of the 6-4 or in a Titan, get out of here!" He ducked to avoid another shot from that Tone. The Militia pilots all began to evacuate, save for two.

"No way, sir! This is what we signed up for, we're with you!"

Dimitri looked back and shook his head. "Davis, sometimes I'm not sure whether to admire you or slap you." He waved the dropship off, signaling them to go. The 6-4 and these two would have to wait for the next dropship.

"Tyra, Vale! As soon as that next dropship arrives, get on it! We'll be coming too!" The Titans said nothing, but acknowledgement lights winked green on everyone's HUD, a sign that they understood. He turned to KT.

"Where's your damn pilot?" She didn't answer, unsure herself.

Suddenly, a vent cover a few yards away broke off, and Gates tumbled out. She made her way through the gunfight over to Dimitri. "Is everyone gone?"

"The survivors, yes! Where's Four?"

She shook her head. "He's grabbing the data! He said he'll make it here, I trust him. But we can't wait, we need to go!"

KT was unsure of what to do. Her superiors were ordering everyone to evacuate, but…

 _Protocol Three. Protect the pilot._

The second dropship came, and the 6-4 began to make their way toward it. Bear and Jax tried to disengage from the front-lines.

"Jax, let's go!" Bear urged his friend forward, and the other pilot struggled to keep up.

Unfortunately, the North Star had other plans, and used its railgun to launch a round right at him as he jumped through the air. It tore his body apart without resistance, and Jax ceased to exist.

The 6-4 had no time to mourn however, and simply made the rest of their way over to the dropship. Bear continued to sprint past everything until he was safely on the ship. Grieving would come later.

Tyra and Cee ran up, and yanked the Titan's arm off. The North Star's other hand scrabbled at its empty socket, only for it to be beaten off the side by them using its arm as a battering ram. As its jets sputtered and died, forcing it to fall into the sea, they made their way back to the dropship and rejoined the others and Skids.

"KT! Come on!" motioned Gates. She looked at the Captain with an odd glance.

 _I am not losing another pilot._

…

"C'mon, c'mon…" Tobias muttered to himself as his data knife absorbed all of the navigational data for the last six months. Erebus would probably be listed more recently than that, but he wanted to be safe, and he didn't have time to sort through specific information.

" _Four! Where the hell are you?!"_ He cringed at Gates' voice screaming in his ear.

"It's almost done, it's-" His data knife winked blue, and stopped flashing digits. He quickly yanked it out, sheathed it, and turned around. "It just finished, I'm on my way!"

"Our second dropship has already left, you're going to have to get there in time for the third dropship! You've got two minutes!"

He nodded. He could make that work. He was about to jump pack into eh vent above with his thrusters, and then remembered the cameras. Suddenly he realized that if they accessed the computer station, they'd know what he accessed. It was a long shot that they'd correctly guess what he was after, but there was still a chance.

The black box only recorded vital data, cause of the ship's crash, and all the cameras. But it wouldn't record footprints in the computer system…

"Alright, change of plans," he spoke to himself. Grunting, he heaved himself back into the vent, and began to make his way toward the surface.

After a bit of navigating, he finally found a shaft that led outside. Its cover was already removed, and he assumed that Gates had come this way too."I made it here to the surface, but I'm changing plans a bit."

" _What do you mean?!"_

He began to make his way toward the front left rotor blade. "I'm giving us a bit more time to come up with a plan, keeping the element of surprise. I'm sinking the ship, I'll explain later."

" _Four, what the hell are you-"_

He terminated the connection, deciding instead to focus on the task at hand. He grabbed a satchel charge as he approached it. That should do the trick.

 _Rumble._

He felt it just as he was planting his second charge for remote detonation.

 _Rumble._

Spinning around quickly, he was rewarded with the sight of a Tone sprinting at him. He quickly dove out of the way just as it smashed a fist into the spot where he'd been standing a moment before.

"Where do you think you're going?" The female pilot inside taunted him, taking another swing at him on the ground. He just barely activated his thrusters in time to avoid being turned into mush.

" _Dropship 45-46, one minute out."_ He heard the dropship pilot over the comms as he ducked to avoid another swipe from the Titan. Evidently, she didn't have any ammo, or she'd have shot him a long time ago. He fumbled for the detonator on his belt.

With surprising speed, the Tone swooped and grabbed him by the arm. To his despair, the detonator flew out of his hand and skittered away. The Titan held him up to where he was hanging in front of its optics. It reminded him of when that Stryder had done on Tyche, and he had to admit that he wasn't a fan of it.

They snarled with malicious intent. "I'm gonna tear you limb from-"'

"Not today, bitch."

The Tone had but a second to turn and see the massive Ion that threw a fist and pummeled it right in its optics. He had barely enough time to think of the shocking realization that KT had just called the Tone a 'bitch' before he fell to the ground. He looked around wildly before he spotted the detonator several meters away.

" _Thirty seconds to evac zone."_

He yelled into the comms, "Open your side door! Things are about to get hectic here, and I don't think you're going to like it! Pull up alongside the Kraken!"

As he sprinted toward the detonator, he was knocked aside by a swipe of the Tone's fist. It tried to chase after him, but KT tackled it, and held it at bay. The two Titans fought for control as he continued to sprint towards the detonator.

He scooped it off the ground, and looked for KT. He saw that she was on the bottom, trying to defend herself from the Tone which threatened to destroy her. He quickly came to a decision.

"KT, hold onto something!"

He watched as she reached an arm out to grip a studding pipe that ran along the hull. "Why? What are you doing?!"

He pulled the trigger.

Immediately, the satchel charges in the rotor's blew up, and the blades were completely mangled. As the Kraken had been going fairly fast in a forward direction, it had now lost equal control on its left side, and the ship immediately turned, as though that corner of the ship had become anchored to its position in midair.

He quickly reached for a handhold, and found the slightest grip in the hull as the ship began spinning rapidly counter-clockwise. It tilted downward with the broken engine as the lowest point, and he felt his muscles straining to retain purchase.

The Tone tried desperately to hold onto KT, but the Ion kicked it away and sent it spinning into the air where it hung for a moment before the side of the ship made a revolution and obliterated it. KT looked to where Tobias was trying to avoid being thrown off.

"Hold on, Four!"

He was trying, but it wasn't working. His old armor hand fingerpads specificlaly for this purpose, but these fingerless gloves meant that while he could feel the environment better, the only traction he had was his skin. Slowly, he lost his grip, and with a final tug, his hands fell away. He felt himself hurling backwards through the air-

He heard a scrape of metal against metal, and saw KT leap from her spot towards him. With her left arm quickly grabbing a new handhold, she extended her right arm with hand outstretched, and he felt himself land in her grip.

"I've got you!"

Hastily, she raised him to her chest, and allowed him entry before shutting the hull. Usually, this was where he'd take over, but he didn't trust a neural transition during a time like this.

" _How are we supposed to retrieve you?"_

He spoke over the comms, "Make sure your door is open, and get alongside the starboard side of the ship immediately! KT, I need you to start running calculations on when we have to let go in order to land safely inside the dropship."

"Define 'safely'."

"'Not dead'! Just do it!"

There was a pause. "Calculations complete. I trust you."

He exhaled with adrenaline. "That makes one of us. Do it."

They made another half-revolution of the ship before KT let go, and they were sent spinning off wildly. He tumbled inside of her for a moment before there was a resounding slam as they hit the inside of the Widow.

"Get us out of here!" he yelled, watching as the doors closed on the sight of the Kraken falling into the ocean. He shook from the primal fear running through his body.

"Four, are you alright?" He heard KT's concerned voice question him, and he chuckled as he began to destress.

"We barely made it out of that one, huh?"

Her voice returned, but a bit warmer. "Thanks to your quick thinking, yes. I'm glad you're safe."

He patted the armrest of the cockpit. "The feeling is mutual, KT. Why didn't you evac with everyone else?"

"Just as you are not going to abandon me, I am not going to abandon you. Like you said; we are a team."

He smiled. "You got that right. We are one hell of a team."


	10. As a Rock

_**Four's Logbook**_

 _I got the navigational data from the IMS Kraken. KT and I are now on our way back to the Griffin, where we'll regroup with everyone and warp-jump somewhere else so that the IMC don't follow us._

 _So now, I've got two problems. One being that the Kraken's blackbox has now recorded me leading a raid on the IMC vessel. I don't know what they'll do with that information, I don't have any friends they could threaten, and my family's been dead for a long time. I just hope that they put a bounty on my head, and are done with it._

 _My second issue is Gates. As far as she knows, I drastically changed my evac plan, terminated our comm connection, and she was unable to contact me for the remainder of the mission. I'm sure that I'll have hell to pay when I get back._

 _Personally, out of the two problems facing me, I'm more afraid of the latter._

 _Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned._

* * *

The Widow opened its massive door in its side, and Tobias held a hand to cover the transition of the shadowy cargo bay to the bright light of the Griffin's hangar. Looking out to the shield doors, he found that they were completely closed. The Griffin must have jumped as soon as the dropship had returned.

KT's hatch opened, and he stepped out from the cockpit, almost falling to the ground. That last move of flying into the Widow had definitely banged him up a bit. Might be a broken bone or something. Either way, he was hurting.

"Pilot?"

KT noticed him fall to the ground, and quickly jumped into action. "Are you alright?! What's wrong?"

He waved her away with one arm while he used to the other to support himself, and keep himself from crumpling to the ground. "I'm fine, just… just hurting a bit. Give… give me a minute."

The Titan obliged, and stood watch over him, monitoring him for further bouts of pain. As he looked up, he saw a familiar blue-suited pilot making her way towards him.

This wasn't gonna be fun.

"If you weren't in such a bad shape already, I'd be kicking your arse up and down the frigate." She crossed her arms, and just stared at him menacingly. "What the hell were you thinking, pulling shit like that?! Changing plans at the last moment and destroying the Kraken, what was the point of it?!"

He groaned. "If they'd looked at the computer system… they'd be able to see what files we accessed. They might have known what we were looking for, and prepared."

It took a moment for Gates to get it, but suddenly it clicked for her. "You mean.."

"I was buying us time… to prepare, and come up with some plan if we do end up going after Erebus." His hand shaking, he pulled out his data knife and handed it to Gates. "All the nav data of the last six months is on there, if… if Erebus was streamed to the Kraken's database at any time, it'll be in there."

Now that she understood his plan a bit better, she stopped acting so harsh. She crouched down to his level, and placed a hand on his shoulder. She spoke a bit softer, "You alright, Four? Seriously, don't bullshit me."

He was about to come up with some witty remark when another pulse of pain hit him, and he winced in response to her question.

She quickly turned to the crowd of riflemen standing nearby. "We need a medic, quickly! We've got wounded." While several of them ran off to get help, she turned back to him.

"Just hold tight for a few minutes, alright? Medics are coming, they'll fix you up."

He nodded, and opted to lay on the ground while he waited. She stood back up, and turned to the others standing behind her and watching; Dimitri, Bear, and the other two pilots with them. She pointed at them.

"You two. Front and center."

They quickly moved into position, and stood at attention. She looked at one of them.

"So, Davis. Dee here told me that you and this one here went against orders and stayed behind to help evacuate the other pilots?"

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

She gave a small hum of thought. She looked at the other one. "What's your name?"

"Droz, ma'am."

She nodded. "Well, as part of the militia, you'll likely be reprimanded, disciplined even. Probably like him," she said, gesturing towards Tobias. She gave a small chuckle.

"But as the 6-4 is a freelance team, I can't do that. What I _can_ do is thank you, and commend you for your bravery."

They seemed to be at a loss for words before Davis gave a small cough. "T-thank you, ma'am."

"Oh, get rid of the ma'am already. Gates is my name, use it."

"You got it, Gates."

She crossed her arms again. "If you and Droz here end up looking to be part of a team… I've got an open mind when it concerns the 6-4."

They looked at each other in disbelief, and then back to her. Droz nodded. "That sounds excellent, Gates."

She sighed. "I'll tell the bridge that I'm considering commandeering two of their pilots. Now get out of here."

The two walked away, talking to each other as several medics finally arrived. They moved into position around Tobias, but were hesitant to move forward upon seeing the protective stance that KT was taking over him.

Gates waved at her. "KT, it's alright. Ease up."

The Titan seemed to realize how she looked to be guarding him, and moved away slightly to let the medics through. They loaded him onto a makeshift stretcher, and then carried him towards the direction of the infirmary.

…

He opened his eyes.

He definitely felt more alert than earlier, and took the opportunity to look around. He was back where he'd been first interrogated by Dimitri, in the medical wing. This time, it seemed to actually be fulfilling its intended purpose. Seemed to be pretty empty save for a few other beds at the far end of the room with their curtains drawn up.

With a start, he realized that he wasn't alone. To his left was Gates, and she seemed to be watching him carefully. Still had that damn helmet on, though.

Upon seeing he was awake, she snorted. "You know, even when I first met you on Nedar and you were making smartass comments, you seemed to have a knack for getting yourself into trouble."

He shrugged. "Character flaw, my bad."

She looked him up and down. "You're lucky that things went better than expected. No completely broken bones, though you definitely bruised a few. You've got a hairline fracture on one of your lower right ribs, so you'll have to wear a brace for a few weeks. Probably take it easier, yeah?"

He said nothing at first, processing that. He understood the need to heal, but the last thing he wanted to do was stay behind while everyone else got stuff done. He remained silent, but nodded his reluctant agreement.

She sighed. "You know, I was pretty worried about you. Jax didn't make it on the way out, and we lost a few of the other pilots as well. I didn't want for your sorry ass to end up like them."

Maybe Gates had a softer side than he realized. With how tight-knit a group the 6-4 was, he imagined that they must all be very close. The loss of Jax would be very hard on her, and he'd hate to imagine how she'd be acting if he'd died as well. While he couldn't say that he knew her as well as Bear or Dimitri, they were still definitely closer than most.

He smirked. "I'll try not to get myself killed as much next time."

"Good." She paused for a moment before clasping her hands together, and leaning over. "We had a look through those data files, sorted through the information to see if your hunch about Erebus was right."

He waited for her to speak, desperately hoping to hear what he wanted. She sighed.

"We found it."

He let out a deep breath of relief, and then regretted it due to his bruised rib. He looked at her curiously, waiting for her to explain.

"We're not sure exactly what they're doing there, or even any information on the planet itself, like weather, size, et cetera. You were right, whatever it is, they're locking down any information on it tightly."

He shrugged again. "Well, at least we know it exists. And now we've got a bit more time to plan."

"But plan what?" She threw her hands up frustratedly. "What exactly are we going to do? We've got no idea what the hell is there, or if we can do anything about it. How do you prepare for an unknowable enemy?"

He grunted as he shifted in the cot. "I told Briggs that we should send scouts. I think we should still keep that idea, send a few people out ahead before bringing any major Militia forces there."

She huffed. "Four, if you're suggesting-"

"I know IMC layouts better than you-"

"You're _injured_ , I'm not gonna have you out there hindering-"

He held a hand up to stop her. "I got everyone into this mess, I'm gonna help get us out. I'm going."

Considering that she technically had superiority over him, he was slightly worried for a second that she would start yelling at him. Fortunately, she dropped the issue, and relented reluctantly.

"If you want to die so badly, that's up to you. Bloody idiot…" She turned around and began to walk out of the infirmary. He watched her go sadly. She was definitely a friend now, and he hated to see her mad at him like this.

But the fact remained that he was the reason why the Militia were now involved with this new scheme. Why there might be a surge in IMC activity on a manhunt for him.

And he was going to help fix it.

…

 _Protect the pilot._

KT stood in the hangar, watching everything move around her. Pilots and riflemen alike, meandering about with purpose, with a sense of self. Four was right, people-watching was definitely an… interesting pastime.

They wouldn't know how she felt. Wouldn't know what it was like to be a Titan, where you constantly felt as though you were missing half of yourself if you weren't with a pilot.

 _Protect the pilot._

He was in the medical wing right now, and she couldn't help but feel responsible. Maybe if-

"KT."

She looked over to see SKD walking over to her. Several of the Militia soldiers in the room looked on curiously. Usually, there weren't multiple Titans in the hangar. She paid them no mind.

"Greetings, SKD."

The Ronin stood next to her, stoic and professional. "My name is Skids."

She rotated her eye to look at him. "Titans do not have names. We have ID's."

"Yet, you do not stop your pilot from calling you 'Kay'."

She hesitated for a second. "It is a shortening of my serial designation. For combat effectiveness."

"It's a nickname."

She gave a synthetic sigh. "What do you require?"

"I would like to talk. You appear to be in distress."

"My pilot is in the medical wing."

"I am aware."

She looked down. "I feel responsible. Perhaps my calculations were off, or I misjudged certain variables-"

"Our processors are essentially supercomputers. There was no error in your thinking."

She looked back at him. "Then why do I feel… wrong?"

Skids seemed to pause, thinking of a proper answer. "When you served with Captain Shears, you never had to face a dilemma such as the one you are facing now, except for when he died."

She twitched.

"Your pilot is injured. You think you have failed the third protocol, but you haven't."

"What do you mean?"

"You were given an impossible situation. With the way the mission proceeded, both of you are lucky to be alive. He is lucky to have suffered such minor injuries compared to how severe they could have been. I intend to say that, you are not used to dealing with a scenario in which you cannot succeed. No matter which way you were to operate, he would have been hurt. This was simply the path of least grievances."

She pondered over that information, feeling it resonate sorely with her.

"Much like when Shears died, you were helpless to stop it. And when that same scenario has been repeated, you find yourself feeling inadequate."

"I shouldn't be feeling inferior. I have carried out sixty-seven total deployments, and should be well-prepared to-"

"With Shears. Not with Four."

She stopped.

"Your current pilot does not act as Shears does. He treats you as an equal, rather than a vital tool. I cannot say whether or not I agree with his stance on a Titan's value," he admitted, "but it is what it is. And I infer that due to this unusual bond between you two, you feel worse when he is in danger than you would otherwise. He is influencing you, changing your own paradigm of the pilot-Titan relationship."

She looked to him. "Is that bad?"

Skids remained silent.

She could not understand. If it was so detrimental of a characteristic, why would she feel… almost happier with this neural link than she did with Shears?

Perhaps this was one of the many confusing aspects of human experiences. During their times in battle, she felt much more combat effective than she'd ever felt before. She knew that he cared for her, and she cared for him. They would keep each other safe, and trust that even if they went down, they would go down together, fighting to the end. It was a true bond, not just as pilot and Titan; but as friends.

But this also meant that when things went awry, they affected her much more heavily than had they not known each other as well. She concluded that in order to experience more happiness with existence, she also had to take more hurt and sadness.

It was an odd paradox that forced her to beg the real question; was it worth it?

She ran a comparative analysis, detailing her experience as Shears' Titan and her service with Four. She contrasted the two, and explored her memory banks.

After a minute, she finally had an answer.

Yes, it absolutely was worth it.

"Hey, KT."

Both she and Skids turned to see Captain Gates striding across the hangar deck. She nodded in respect. "Captain Gates."

Gates crossed her arms, and sighed. "You'll be happy to know that Four is doing just fine, and he'll be up and at 'em in a few weeks. He just needs to heal a bit."

She nodded, gratefully, all of her tension easing out of her simultaneously.

Gates huffed, "He's also very eager to get back into the fight. I swear, the damn fool is going to kill himself if he keeps up this mindset of his. Mind telling him to temper his ambition a bit?"

She wanted her to tell Four not to help as much? Might as well fight with a brick wall.

"Respectfully, ma'am, I don't believe that intervention on my part would change his mind."

The Captain nodded, apparently having expected that. "Figured."

She almost hesitated to say what she said next, but felt that she needed to. "In addition… I trust his judgement more than mine."

Gates looked at her oddly. "Do you think he should be working himself this hard?"

"No."

"Well, you're the AI. Incapable of making errors."

"Just because we are incapable of making errors does not mean we are immune to mistakes."

The woman tilted her head. "Explain."

KT hummed with thought. "There is a hypothetical situation that showcases the difference between AI and humans. Both are presented with an impossible situation, where they are placed in an inescapable prison. The AI will recognize that the scenario is unwinnable, and will promptly give up. However, the human will continue to try and do the impossible, refusing to give in and vigorously attempt to leave even as the situation becomes abundantly clear."

"So? It just means that the human is wasting their time and energy."

"Some assume that logic prevails, and thus the computer is incapable of error. However, I disagree. I believe it showcases the relentless nature of the human spirit. Though something may appear impossible, and the logical thing for an AI seems to be to give up, a human will always keep looking for a way to solve it. And it is for that reason that I trust human judgment more."

She shifted. "He is my pilot. I am loyal to the Militia, but for a proper bond to exist, my loyalty must be to him first. And so I trust him."

Gates said nothing, but just turned away after a few moments and walked off. Skids looked at her oddly.

"So, you have come to a decision on your view of that bond?'

Damn right she had.


	11. A Strengthened Bond

_**Four's Logbook**_

 _So, the recommended time for me to heal up is about five weeks. They want me in the infirmary for one, and then taking it easy for the next few._

 _Naturally, I'm checking myself out in two days._

 _There are people who need the medical wing more than I do, and so long as I'm wearing a proper brace, I think I should be fine. A bit more painful jumping around and all, but I'll manage. Gate's won't be happy, but that doesn't matter right now._

 _Fortunately, she told me that Briggs has decided not to reprimand me for my change of plans, and instead was apparently impressed with my 'intuitive thinking'. I think that's just her way of saying thanks for giving the Militia a bit more breathing room to plan when it comes to the IMC and Erebus. Now, it's time to get out of this makeshift hospital, and back to work. Gates told me she was going to go over some ideas with everyone in the hangar, and I've got to be there._

 _I've got a plan to make._

* * *

"Alright, gather 'round."

Tyra and Vale stepped closer while their Titans and KT stayed back, watching them. Gates looked at the pilots and nodded approvingly.

"You two have obviously proved yourselves reliable and capable on that last mission. I can see why Four requested you at the time. Considering that you're some of the very few who actually know him, I have no problem if you'd wish to continue with the next part of this investigation, and follow his lead-"

Vale interrupted, "Yes, ma'am. I would."

Gates looked at the Simulacrum expectantly. She continued, "Tyra and I initially distrusted him, though we didn't voice out opinions as vocally as others did, and decided to give him a chance. He's proven to me at least, that he is loyal to our cause, and he's a good man to follow. I would be more than happy to serve at his side for this mission."

"Oh stop it, you'll make me blush."

Everyone, including the Titans, quickly turned towards the source of the noise. KT's optics opened wide, and she felt a small burst of elation. Making his way across the hangar deck was none other than Tobias.

Gates pointed at him aggressively. "Oh, no. You, infirmary, now. Or I'll drag your arse back there myself."

He held up his hands in a submissive manner. "Easy, I already checked myself out. They weren't thrilled at the idea, but they cleared it."

"You should be in there for a _week_ -"

"I'm fine! Really! Look," he protested, jumping up and down a bit to showcase to her that he was able-bodied. He did wince a bit, but that was the only reaction he dared let her see. "It's not like I'm heading out into battle today, we've still got a few weeks for me to fully heal until we move out. This way, I'm just saving you from having to tell it twice. Hmm?"

He waited with bated breath while the blue of her visor stared him down. She held up a finger. "One mishap, and back to the medical wing. Clear?"

"Crystal." He held out a thumbs up towards Vale and Tyra. "Glad to see you two have such high opinions of me."

Tyra turned to Gates. "Has he always been this much of a smartass?"

"At first, yeah. He seemed to mellow out when he realized survival was on the line. I suppose now that he understands that we're all friends here, it's resurfacing a bit." She crossed her arms, but he could just feel that she was giving a slight grin under that helmet of hers.

He clapped his hands together, and nodded subtlety towards KT. She understood the message; _We'll talk in a bit._

"Now then, let's get to it."

…

He sighed, and fell into a sitting position on the ground.

The others had finally left, after several hours of discussing a plan of action concerning Erebus. They were pretty sure that they had a decent game-plan now, and were ready to put it into action. Pitching it to Briggs was all that was left, but he wasn't worried. Once the commander had heard that Erebus was a tangible system, and they may actually be uncovering a massive potential threat, she was mobilizing Militia fleets all over.

He was just tired and stressed from standing around and discussing battle plans all day.

"Pilot?"

He grinned, remembering that someone hadn't left, and was still here. He turned and gave her leg a quick pat. "Hey, KT."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Oh yeah, loads better than I was feeling the other day." He turned his head upwards. "Were you worried?"

She sounded sheepish. "A bit, yes."

He hadn't expected that, he'd just been teasing her a bit. "Really? I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to be stuck worrying about me all day-"

"It's not your fault."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, really? Well then, who else would it be?"

She paused for a moment. "Mine."

He raised his eyebrows, and looked her right in the optics. "What gave you that idea?"

"I did."

"Why?"

She seemed to be finding the right words to explain. "It is neither your fault nor mine that you were injured, I understand that now. But it is my fault that I feel worried… because that's just how I feel."

He blinked. "Sorry, I don't follow you."

She gave a synthetic sigh, as if she were having enough trouble explaining already. "I came to an understanding a few days ago. About our interaction as Titan and pilot, our relationship. And I realized why I felt responsible, why I felt anxious when you were stuck in the medical wing."

He listened intently.

"I worry for you because I care about you. And so long as I care about you, I cannot stop worrying about you." She looked at him again. "I could instead decide to maintain a more neutral relationship with you, rather than the one we have entertained so far. But I choose not to, so therefore it is my fault."

He was at a loss for words, he hadn't expected that. "And why do you choose not to? If you need a more neutral partnership, just let me know-"

"That is the last thing I want."

He shut up.

"I choose not to because I value our friendship far too much to sacrifice it. Yes, it means that I hurt more when you are hurt; it also means that I am happier when I'm with you, that we have a stronger bond than other Titans and pilots do."

She laughed slightly, and he jerked aback. He had never heard her laugh before, never heard any Titan laugh before. They were walking war machines, yet here she was… laughing.

"You and I met as foes. I remember how we both thought that each of us would kill the other. Now look at us." She glanced down at him. If Titans could smile, she would definitely be doing it. "I had thought that Captain Shears and I had a strong bond. We were linked for over a year and four months. I grieved over his death, and I still regret it. But even at our strongest point… it does not compare to the bond that you and I share, Four."

"You really feel that way?"

The eye in her chassis nodded. "Yes. Shears and I were partners. You and I… we are friends, Tobias. And I want it that way."

The use of his first name struck a chord with him, and he looked at her in a new light. He couldn't see how the Militia could try to dehumanize Titans; they had feelings, personalities…

He would do no such thing. He would respect her as a person for as long as they were together.

In an act of defiance towards that stupid mindset of the both the IMC and the Militia's, he stood up and motioned for her to bend down. She obliged, though confusedly. With her optics now at his height, he smiled and patted the top of it affectionately. She froze for a moment, unsure of how to react. He ran his hand over it, rubbing the metal slightly with his fingertips, like he would the head of a human.

"I want it that way too, Kay."

She blinked. He exhaled.

"I know you told me that Titans have ID's, not names. To keep people from placing value of a Titan over a human. But I don't see it that way, I _can't_ see it that way." He held her gaze seriously. "You and I, we're _equals_. Understand? And I don't want you thinking any different."

He felt a little bit of wetness in his eye, and scolded himself. He couldn't help it though; she was basically his best friend, she meant too much to him. For him to even conceive the notion that she would consider herself below him made him upset.

"I know you and I didn't start off this way, but I am so glad that we ended up here. I am proud to call you my friend."

With that, he placed his hands on the side of her optics, and leaned in close, resting the top of his head against hers. It was the closest thing to a hug that he could give a Titan. She closed her eye, enjoying the moment for once and not worrying about protocols and the like.

From that day forward, they weren't just Titan and pilot. They would always have that unique bond that such a pair would have, the relationship that only a pilot and a Titan could know where you aren't just you, but are rather one half of a whole. But that wasn't all they had.

For most Titans and pilots, they were partners. They worked together, looked out for one another, yes, but focused on the mission first.

For them, they were the closest of friends. And they would always put each other first.

* * *

 _A/N: You wanted fluff? YOU WANTED FLUFF?!_

 _WELL, HERE YOU GO!_

 _In other news, short chapter. Yes, it's a shame. But it would just feel weird to go from this awesome scene to what's coming next in the same chapter. I need to split it up, hope you understand._


	12. Erebus

_**Four's Logbook**_

 _Well… today's the day._

 _In three hours, we'll be heading out to Erebus. Just me, Tyra, Vale, and our Titans. We'll scout as much as we can, and report back to the Militia fleet waiting a few systems away. Whatever it is that they're hiding there, I'm a bit excited to see it. Even if it's something totally horrible, I just am anxious at the prospect of it._

 _Now for the bad news; with how incredibly tight-lipped the IMC have been about this, there's no way that this planet isn't defended. Not to mention that we ran into one of their fleets being stationed there. Makes me think that they're being added as security detail._

 _That means that we're probably not going to get a friendly welcome. We're prepping for a crash landing, but that's alright._

 _Things are about to get interesting._

* * *

Tyra sat in the pilot's chair, having volunteered to fly them. Since it was just the three of them going, at least one of them needed to know how to pilot a dropship. The Titans were in a Widow being controlled by auto-pilot. It would automatically follow the dropship's course to the best of its ability.

Tobias gave one last look around the hangar at the riflemen and other pilots. Nearby, the 6-4 stood on guard; Gates, Dimitri, Bear, and their two newest members, Davis and Droz. He watched as the captain slowly left her group and approached him on the drop-bay's ramp.

"You make sure that you're careful, alright?" She spoke genuinely, a tone of concern in her voice. "I don't want to lose any more pilots. This war has enough dead heroes."

He nodded seriously. Once he'd given her his agreement, she chuckled and looked to Tyra and Vale who were farther into the dropship. "You two make sure that he doesn't have his head too far up his own arse to listen to reason every once in a while, yeah?"

Tyra guffawed from the pilot's chair as Vale stifled a laugh and nodded. "You've got it, Gates."

He rolled his eyes, and waved her off as she stepped back from the ramp. As Tyra prepped the last few flight-checks, he decided to pass the time. Holding one hand up to his helmet, he opened up communications.

"How're you doing, Kay?"

" _We are operational. Titans are loaded and ready for takeoff."_

He nodded. "Gotcha, but that wasn't the question. You alright?"

" _So long as Tyra's flying isn't as messy as your initial piloting skills, I won't be nervous."_

He heard a laugh from behind him, and rolled his eyes. "You broadcast that one on an open channel, didn't you?"

" _Maybe."_

He smirked. "Glad to see you've got a sense of humor. While we're discussing embarrassing moments, there's a question I've been meaning to ask you for a few weeks."

She paused for a moment. _"Yes?"_

"When you rescued me from that Tone on the Kraken, did you call her a bitch?"

She was silent, and he knew he'd touched a nerve. Finally, he heard her mumble, _"Affirmative."_

"Any particular reason why?" he continued, holding in his laughter at her awkwardness.

" _She was about to kill you. I was protective and angry, so I temporarily suspended a collected demeanor."_ He heard her mutter, _"Plus, I think Tones are overrated-"_

"What was that?"

" _Nothing."_

He smirked at the tinge of envy he'd just detected from her, and turned around. "We good to go, Tyra?"

"Waiting on your word."

"Take us out."

The drop-bay ramp closed by raising up and becoming the door, closing as it did so. The ship's engines rumbled and flared to life. Slowly, the dropship raised itself up, and out of the hangar. They passed easily through the shields, and into the vacuum of space. The Widow carrying the Titans followed them as they distanced themselves from the Griffin.

" _Dropship 69-21, this is the Griffin. You may proceed."_

"Copy that, Griffin. Putting the coordinates in now." She punched in a few numbers on the dashboard.

Tobias' comms lit up again. _"Four, remember; there's not much we can do if you three run into trouble. So make sure you stay out of it."_

He nodded, though she couldn't see. "You worry too much, Gates. We'll be fine. Right guys?" he called to Vale and Tyra. They didn't respond.

"Well… alright then."

He cut communication, and gave Tyra a thumbs up. She turned back to the console, inhaled deeply, and pushed a lever forward.

Space seemed to bend around them for a second, warping to accommodate the size and shape of their ship tearing through the fabric of reality.

After a flash of light, it died down, and Tobias looked to see a new planet below them.

Erebus.

It was hard to see the surface, there were too many clouds in view. But he was having a hard time finding any green or blue. The likelihood was that it wouldn't be a fertile planet like-

"That didn't take very long," Tyra muttered as an alarm began to go off. "We've got several bogeys approaching rapidly, my bet is missiles."

He wasted no time in ordering her to move. "Break atmosphere, we need to get as close to the ground as we can! Don't want to be stuck in this tin-can if we're shot down too high!"

She spent no breath on a response, but obeyed. He and Vale held onto the handles that hung from the ceiling, keeping their balance as the ship shifted. Behind them, the Widow followed suit.

Sure enough, the bright orange glow of the missies hurtling towards them came into view on the screens soon enough. From what he could see, they didn't stand much of a chance of outrunning them.

"Try to outmaneuver them if you can, but don't bet on it," he called up front. Tyra gave a nod of acknowledgement while Vale just held on for dear life.

The screens began to glow red from the ship puncturing the planet's atmosphere, the air around it heating up. It dissipated after a bit, and was replaced with the sight of clouds whizzing by.

"Brace yourselves, first missile incoming!" Tyra yelled, and both Tobias and Vale tensed up. It still didn't prepare them for the shocking jolt that hit the ship a few moments later, nearly sending them flying around the cabin.

Finally, the cloud layer disappeared. Before he could get a better view of the surface however, another missile landed its mark on the hull of the ship, and an alarm began to whine.

"There it is, we're going down. I repeat, we're going-"

" _Pilot!"_ The deep voice of CH made its way onto the comms. _"The Widow has been damaged as well, we are veering off-course and crashing. We will send you our coordinates once we have landed."_

"Understood Cee, you all hang tight!" She turned back towards Vale and Tobias. "Brace for impact!"

He just groaned. He'd known that they probably would get shot down what with the security and all, but still. Crash landings sucked.

"Touchdown in three… two… one-"

The dropship skipped off the ground like a rock thrown against water, and then dropped back down. The loud signature noise of metal screeching as it grinned against other metal and rocks was all too prevalent. He stayed close to the floor of the ship, trying to maintain a stable center of gravity. Vale leaned against the wall, her two arms outstretched to balance her. Tyra held tightly onto the controls as they began to slow down… they continued to slow…

Finally, with a metallic groan, the ship came to a stop.

"Alright," he ordered, "Everyone off!"

While Tyra punched a button and allowed the drop-bay door to open as far as it could in its damaged state, Vale and Tobias quickly grabbed their packs that they'd packed rations, ammo, and other supplies in. Tossing a magazine over to her, she caught it and stored it as he ran off the ship and looked around.

It was definitely a bit windy, that was for sure. He checked the atmosphere of the planet with his helmet's gas analyzer. Breathable. He turned off the filtration system, not wasting extra power on converting already breathable air.

Besides oxygen, the planet didn't seem to have all that hospitable of a demeanor, or at least the region they'd landed in didn't. It was rocky, and barren. The only other turf around here besides rocks was sand. It was white, and very fine. Seemed like they were in some kind of desert wasteland, or similar. Fog surrounded the area, though it wasn't very dense. You could see for quite a ways, it was just more of an annoyance than anything.

"Not very inviting, is it?" muttered Vale, stepping out from the wreckage. "Kinda cold for a desert." He looked over at her, and grunted. It was indeed fairly cold. Overhead, the sky was a dull gray color.

For all intents and purposes, Erebus looked like a dead world.

Tyra came out a moment later, her pack also secured on her back. He turned and waved at her. "Did you get any idea where the IMC might be holding up here?"

"Not an exact answer, but the missiles were reported to be coming from that direction, according to the computer's analysis." She pointed in the direction that the starboard side of the ship was facing. He gave a brief nod, and held a hand up to his helmet.

"KT? Are you three alright?"

" _We are unharmed."_

"That's good to hear. Send us your coordinates, we'll meet in the middle somewhere."

" _Affirmative."_

A moment later, a black square appeared on his HUD, a small point off in the distance. The reading next to it said, 'EST. 21.3K NE'.

"Alright, the Titans are twenty one klicks north-east of here. If we want to make progress rather than going to them directly, I would recommend," he muttered, while tapping in some commands on his wrist pad, "that we all meet up here." He sent a new square where their paths would intersect on the way towards the likely IMC station. "It seems to be pretty far north. I'd say it will take us at least four days to meet up with the Titans if we go that way, and a full week to find any sign of the IMC."

Vale shrugged. "Then we'd better get started."

He held a hand up to his helmet again. "Here's the rendezvous point, Kay. See you in a few days, alright?"

" _Affirmative. Please stay safe, pilot."_

He cut the connection, and motioned to the others. "Let's get going. We're finally going to see what the hell is going on here."

…

Exhausted, he leaned against the rock, planting his ass firmly on the ground. Tyra and Vale followed suit, settling down for the night.

They'd made good progress for today, having been walking for nearly eleven hours. Night had descended upon them a while ago, but they'd persisted. They stopped finally when they realized that there wasn't even a moon orbiting Erebus, and the only light they received was from the stars above. Deciding to rest for the day, they'd selected an outcrop of rocks that stood around like massive shards of broken glass, creating a sort of circle in the middle of all the sand. It was as good as any place to rest.

"Who's going to keep first watch?" Tyra asked. He was about to volunteer when the comms crackled to life.

" _We can monitor your helmets' audio and visual feed while we continue to trek forward. We do not need sleep, so you three can rest."_

He nodded appreciatively, though she couldn't see it. "Thanks, Kay."

" _You're welcome."_

"Well, in that case…" Vale made herself comfortable, and then the light on her head winked out as she deactivated for the night. Her body may not need rest, but her mind definitely could use it. Tyra shifted a bit as well, and found a comfortable position. Tobias watched the rise and fall of her chest until it steadied and he was sure she was asleep.

Meanwhile, he stayed up and stared at the stars for a bit. He looked at each one of them, marveling at how pretty a sight it was for so desolate a planet.

" _Why don't you sleep?"_

He snickered at her fussing over him. "How'd you know?"

" _Your heartbeat is still consistent with its average when you are awake, as well as your neural pathways still remaining active. Remember, you and I are linked."_

He sighed. "You know, no matter what planet you go to, the stars always get me. It's such a vast place out here, and every planet gets a different view of the sky. Constellations are different, perspective is different… it just makes you feel small, I suppose."

She said nothing.

"As a kid, I grew up with a certain view of the cosmos. And my first time off-world, it all changed. The frontier is such a big place, you could never hope to explore it all. There's so many people, so many cities and planets full of their own ideologies and beliefs… that's what I was always fighting for, inside. For that to be at peace once more."

KT was silent for a moment before responding, _"I wish I could see the world the way you do."_

He tried to make sense of that. "What?"

" _Humans have long since stated how insignificant they are in the universe, how small and minute they are compared to the vastness of it all. Yet, you create civilizations, colonize worlds, expand constantly. You have history stretching back thousands of years, art that still maintains importance today, and an ever changing paradigm of the way life and the universe functions."_

He considered that side of the argument.

" _You fight to protect those things, because even if they aren't worth anything to the universe as a whole, they mean something to you. You fight to protect them, risking your own lives in the process. You may feel small, but to me you look like giants."_

She almost sounded longing, like she wanted to be a part of that experience. He grimaced, and then shook his head.

"I kind of just realized something. You haven't known any other life other than battle, huh?"

She was silent for a moment. _"No."_

"So what happens to you after the war?"

She pondered that for a moment. _"Uncertain."_

He thought for a moment. "Well, when this war is over, I highly doubt that I'll want to stay a soldier for the rest of my life. And I doubt that you'd want to be put on a shelf, or just serve as a labor bot of the rest of yours. So maybe…"

" _Yes?"_

He exhaled. "How would you like to put that idea of yours to action? To go exploring around the frontier, see all the amazing things it has to offer? Just me and you."

" _Really?"_

He could detect the slightest hint of excitement in her voice, and he chuckled. "Really. We could jump from planet to planet, getting a taste of each before moving on. What do you say?"

" _I'd love that."_

He nodded. "I thought so. Now, I better get some rest. The sooner we figure out what's going on here at Erebus, the sooner we can stop it. So we've got a long week ahead of us."

" _Understood. Good night, Four."_

"Good night, Kay."


	13. Ancient Powers

_**Four's Logbook**_

 _We're almost to the rendezvous point now. The desolate and flat wasteland consisting of rocky outcrops and sand has slowly disappeared. It's been a long transition, but it's gotten much colder, as evidenced by the sand being replaced with snow. I think we must be near the arctic point of this planet for such a change to happen so fast. In any matter, the terrain is now filled with a frozen tundra with a variety of flatlands, valleys, mountains, and dunes._

 _We spotted something that could have been an outpost on the horizon. It was a bit far to see, even with magnification, but if it was, then it means that we're getting closer to whatever the IMC are hiding. It was out of the way, so we decided not to investigate; but we're taking it as a hopeful sign of things to come._

 _Erebus may be a dead planet, I'm still yet to see any trees or forms of wildlife; but there's no denying that it's pretty, and unique. Not a bad place to die on._

 _Still, I'm hoping that won't be the case._

* * *

The snowstorm around them was becoming stronger, as the white powder flew past them, creating coats of ice-crystals on their metallic plates. CH extended his arm and ignited a small jet of fire to melt it away, as he had done several times over the past hour. KT would pick at it every once in a while, and Skids just pushed through it, ignoring the ice for the most part.

She turned behind them to see a long trail of massive footprints left behind, stretching far into the distance until the view was obstructed by a large hill they'd traversed. She remarked on how long they'd been traveling today, and wondered how the pilots were faring.

The landscape around them reminded her all too much of Nedar, except that at least Nedar had trees and other cover. Out here in the vast tundra, there was no cover but large rises and each other. It made her worried; they hadn't been able to establish contact with the others since last night, likely due to the snowstorm. They were on the fifth day of their march, and she couldn't help but hope that Four wasn't freezing to death or something-

"We are one kilometer from the rendezvous point," came Skids' voice, startling her out of thought. She looked over at the Ronin.

"Are you sure?"

"Affirmative. 1.2 kilometers to be precise. You can cease your worrying."

She nodded. That meant only one more kilometer until they were reunited with their pilots; one more kilometer until she could make sure Four was safe-

Wait. "What do you mean, 'cease my worrying'?"

Skids paused for a moment. "You may think your thoughts go unnoticed, but your behavior betrays you. You have been noticeably more depressed this last week than I've normally observed, you wonder about their status aloud and much too often, and you grow silent for long stretches of time when you think of the potentially tragic scenarios that could befall them. Especially him."

She bristled a bit at his comments. "I exhibit none of those traits; I am operating efficiently-"

"No, you're not."

CH's optics turned from Skids to KT and back. "I am unaware of what the two of you are referring to."

Skids snorted. "KT has become affectionate with her pilot."

She felt herself flare up a bit with rebelliousness towards Skids and his cynical view of her. "Of course I am affectionate with him, he is my pilot-"

"More so than you let on. It is disconcerting to see such a bond between the two of you. I overheard your conversation with him several days ago, but have neglected to bring it up until now. Your very language and manner of speaking changes when you interact with him."

She relented angrily. "Yes, I am closer with my pilot than most Titans. Much closer. It is because of this that my combat effectiveness has increased exponentially when we fight together, so I ask you; why do you insist on labelling it as a negative influence?"

He seemed to think about that. "Cee, what are the three protocols?"

The Scorch instantly listed them off, "Protocol one; link to pilot. Protocol two; uphold the mission. Protocol three; protect the pilot."

An ocular probe on Skids' chassis turned to look at her. "I am indifferent to the kind of bond the two of you share; I only intervene because I feel it necessary to remind you of the order of those protocols. The mission comes first, then the safety of our pilots."

She was a bit shocked at the abrasiveness of his words. "If you were presented with the choice to let Vale die for the sake of the mission, or save her, you would-"

"I would let her die, yes."

She hadn't even finished her sentence before he'd answered. She didn't know how to respond.

"I would feel great remorse, and mourn for her loss. But I would put the mission before her, yes. She would want it that way, and so I would honor her. I would not disrespect her so much as to value her life over those that she is trying to save."

CH added, "I too, would be forced to allow my pilot to die if I were given such a difficult choice. And I am sure that she would also sacrifice me to uphold the mission as well. I am her second Titan, after all."

Skids continued, "I know that it sounds harsh, but it is the truth. My point is that if you were presented with an analogous scenario, I believe you would save Four rather than complete the mission. And though you may think it to be noble, it is a dangerous organization of priorities."

Both he and CH turned silent as they all continued to walk, allowing her to reflect on that. Would she do that? Could she sacrifice Four to uphold the mission?

Back with Shears, she and him held a professional relationship. She'd told Four that Shears always put the mission first, though at least he always put her safety second. She too would have placed his safety below the fate of the mission.

Now? She was not sure which call she would make if the time came for it.

"We will arrive in thirty seconds."

Having heard that, she immediately perked up. She'd sort out everything that Skids had made her think about later, but all that filled her mind now was the thought of seeing the pilots and Four again, after nearly a week of-

Something wasn't right.

The snowstorm was clear enough for them to see ahead to the rendezvous point. It was just another expanse of tundra, but that wasn't concerning. What was concerning was the fact that the pilots were not there.

The three Titans continued to trek forward until they were standing right where everyone should have met up. They looked around.

"No sign of the pilots detected. They have not reached this checkpoint yet." CH glanced around, scanning for footprints, heat signatures, anything to give them a clue.

Skids crouched down. "Agreed. Two possible scenarios. They have not made it this far yet-"

"Or they have encountered a problem." KT looked out to where they should be coming from, and saw nothing. She felt the beginnings of anxiety creeping up on her.

"Affirmative." Skids stood up again. "My inference is that the former has occurred. I would hesitate to assume trouble until absolutely sure."

Holding onto those words, KT stood and scanned the horizon. She would wait, and look for any sign that they were coming.

So they waited.

And waited.

She wasn't sure how much time passed as she stood scanning the horizon. Every so often, she'd try to reach them over the comms. "This is KT-0298 to pilots, please respond. Four, are you there?" And when there was no answer, they would wait.

And wait.

And-

" _One hell of a snowstorm, huh?"_

She quickly spun and looked out ahead towards a rise in the land. Through the flurry of snow, she could barely make out three shapes approaching in the distance. She felt all of the tension she'd had for the last two hours leave her metallic form, and eagerly awaited the arrival of the pilots.

It was another minute or so before the three of them finally reached the Titans. The one in front approached KT and gave a thumbs up.

"Been a rough couple of days, huh? Glad to see you guys are all in one piece."

KT knelt to the ground, presenting her head as Tobias reached forward and ran his hand along the top of it affectionately. "Likewise, Four. I've missed you."

He chuckled. "The feeling is mutual. Sorry we took so long, but this snow is a pain in the ass."

She glanced over to see if Skids was going to comment, but he was busy reuniting with his own pilot. Just because he didn't seem to approve of the closeness between Four and KT, it didn't mean he wasn't fond of his own pilot. Vale leaned against one of his legs with her elbow, the two of them enjoying a silent exchange rather than a vocal one.

"Good to see you, Cee!" called Tyra, walking over to the Scorch while slightly laughing at the play on words. He held his arm out for her to stand on, and opened his hull.

"It is good to see you as well. I recommend you embark; we will all move faster if you three are piloting."

"Agreed," concurred Skids, and his hatch opened up to allow entry for Vale to hop in and sit in the pilot's chair.

KT looked at Tobias, and nodded. Her own hull opened up, and he gripped the sides of the entry to pull himself in. No matter how many times he did it, it was cool every time. He sat down in the pilot's chair and linked his arms and legs as the projection screens in front of him lit up and showed him what was going on outside. There was a small feeling like cold mercury seeping into his spine, and then-

He looked right, and tested out the movement. When the Ion's arm moved, it wasn't his arm, and it wasn't KT's; it was _their_ arm, controlling it together through a bond of neural sensors and trust. He flexed their body, trying to get a feel for the environment. It wasn't really cold anymore, not in the way that humans felt it; it was more like a dull presence in the back of his mind that nagged him, but didn't take away his concentration.

He turned to see Vale and Tyra now in control of their respective Titans as well. Both turned to face him.

"We ready to move out?" he spoke. The Ronin nodded.

" _Following you,"_ came Vale's voice through the speakers.

He beckoned to them. "Let's go, then."

And so the band of Titans moved out, crossing the snowy landscape along the path towards any sign of an IMC presence.

…

"So, you guys didn't see anything IMC either?"

 _KT replied, "No. We believe we spotted a potential outpost, but we could not confirm it through the snowstorm."_

He thought about that. "For a fleet that large to be stationed here as defense, I wonder where all the IMC are? It feels odd that we wouldn't see any sign of them so far if this planet was so heavily important to them. I wonder if-"

" _I'm seeing an anomaly on the horizon, can anyone confirm?"_

He stopped and looked towards where Tyra was indicating on the HUD. There was a small hill ahead, but it seemed to end rather abruptly. A cliff? "Yeah, I'm seeing that too."

" _Might be worth checking out."_

"I agree, Vale. Let's see if we can look out and get a vantage point or something."

With Tobias and KT in the lead, the three Titans trudged up the incline to stand on the lip and see if there was anything of interest, or possibly a path they could spot forward. He finally reached the top, and took a look out to see-

He froze, at a complete loss of what he was looking at.

Tyra noticed his stiffness, and she turned CH's optics to look at him before looking at what he was seeing. _"What's the matter? Did you- oh my god."_

They were standing on the edge of a massive crater, miles and miles across. In the center of it were some kind of structures, buildings and constructions that stretched out in all directions until they reached the walls of the crater, and disappeared within them. It would appear to be an excavation site, and the buildings had been buried in it.

" _Those IMC facilities?"_ asked Vale.

He shook his head. "I don't know about you, but I've never seen any IMC structures like that." Their structure differed from the standard kind of bunkers he'd seen the IMC make, and he'd seen many of them in his time. Deciding that this was too interesting to pass up, he and KT positioned their arm to scrape into the side of the cliff, and slid down the wall of ice. He bent their legs upon reaching the bottom to absorb the impact, then stood up and began to make his way over to the structures. He could hear the scrape of metal against ice as both Vale and Tyra piloted Skids and Cee to do the same.

After walking for ten minutes or so, they reached the outer edge of the structures. They looked all around them, taking in the oddness of the architecture. Efficiently speaking, they would perform just as well for shelter as other buildings. But architecturally and artistically, they were very different from anything they had seen before. Different materials, different shapes of infrastructure, everything.

Tobias walked next to one wall in particular, and detached himself neurally from KT. Hopping out of her her hatch, he moved closer and scraped away some of the snow layered onto it. Underneath the powder were etchings and engravings in such odd patterns that he'd never seen the likes of before. The structure itself seemed to be some kind of stone-like substance, but eroded away until it had been so tarnished that what could have once been a perfectly smooth surface was now jagged and bumpy. The less damaged areas were silver in color, while the rest of it was discolored to be some sort of black and bronze combination.

"KT, you ever see anything like this?" he muttered, still trying to grasp the gravity of the situation.

"No. These structures and those engravings are completely unfamiliar to me."

He looked around. Even now, it seemed like these weren't complete buildings. Their bases were not revealed, which meant that there were probably still bits of them as of yet uncovered. He glanced to his right and saw large bulldozers, cranes, and other heavy machinery scattered around the site. They seemed abandoned too, however. Rusting and frozen, left behind in the elements.

He pointed to them. "Look at that excavation equipment. This was a dig-site, they were uncovering stuff. Looks like they haven't been here in a while."

"Why would the IMC suddenly be interested in archeology?" He looked to see Vale walking across the snow to stand next to him. He shook his head.

"I don't know." He gestured at the stone. "Look at how old that is though; the condition this stuff is in, I can't even imagine-"

"I am analyzing the structure and the environment." KT was silent as her processors worked to provide an answer. After a few moments, her eye pulsed with a blue light. "These structures are well over fifty thousand years old, although the level of excavation performed to reveal these ruins places an estimate of at least several hundred thousand years to be buried this deep."

Tyra hopped out of CH, and her gaze darted around as well. "That's… pretty old."

"Indeed. It more than predates human civilization."

Everyone froze.

Slowly Tobias turned as the impact of those words hit him full force. "You mean…?"

"Humanity as you know it has only existed in an advanced state of being for the last six or seven thousand years. These ruins were created before even the first Homo sapiens walked the Earth." She looked around. "What's more, carbon dating only reaches so far as fifty to seventy thousand years. For all I know, these structures could be millions of years old, and we wouldn't know."

Tyra kind of just sat down hard in the snow, her mind struggling to process exactly what they'd just discovered. Vale was silent, but noticeably stiff. She didn't know how to react to this.

He went ahead and voiced what everyone was thinking, but were unwilling to say.

"We've just discovered evidence of other life."

KT looked around the ruins. "Not just other life; intelligent life. A civilization that could create structures out of material that would last for potentially millions of years."

He held a hand up to his head, trying to stem the pounding headache he was getting. He tried to put the pieces together; the ruins, the secrecy, the excavation tools.

"That's what the IMC are doing here; they discovered this ancient civilization, and now they're digging it all up."

Tyra recovered enough to stare at him and voice a question. "Isn't that pretty harmless, though? Just digging up old cities and ruins? Granted, they're alien ruins, but why wouldn't they just tell everyone about it?"

He shook his head. "It's not just that. All that excavation equipment there, it's just abandoned. They're not actively searching here anymore, they moved on. They're not doing it for the sake of discovery."

"Then why are they doing it?"

"When you look somewhere for something you've lost, but you can't find it, what do you do?"

Vale sighed. "Look somewhere else."

He nodded. "That's what they're doing. This isn't just something they're curious about. I think they're looking for something, and they just haven't found it yet."

"But then why'd they suddenly start moving their fleet around? That one we found at Tyche, why did they move them here?"

He thought about it, and the answer clicked. And it frightened him.

"Because something big came up. They've almost found it."


	14. The Breaking Point

The IMC outpost wasn't particularly impressive to look at, but it was definitely something of interest.

Something to help them figure out this mystery.

Tobias tossed a ration bar over to Tyra. She caught it easily, and gave a small nod of thanks. He looked over to where KT and the other Titans were standing guard on this hilltop they'd decided to settle on. It was roughly a klick away from the outpost, but due to its elevation, it would be hard to see them here. So they had the advantage of both distance and visibility.

The outpost itself was fairly average size; a dockyard for ships, a military facility, and what looked to be a vehicle bay connected to it. Nothing of real value, if it weren't for their current situation. Its location was out of the way and on the edge of a cliff, so they wouldn't be here if they had other options.

It had been four days since they'd discovered the ruins. In that time, they had discovered that there were several other dig sites as well, all of them abandoned like the first. What exactly the IMC were looking for, they didn't have any ideas yet. But with the information they DID have, they could put another plan into action. Try to piece together the puzzle.

They just had to get back to the Militia.

Unfortunately, an extraction from Erebus was not an option. Their own dropship had been shot down almost immediately upon entering IMC space, and the same would happen for any kind of rescue team. Which left plan B, one that involved the IMC outpost… and the dropships parked in its dockyard.

"How much longer until we want to make a move?" asked Vale, glancing over at him while he sat against a mound of snow. He checked the time on his wrist pad.

"Give it another twenty minutes. It'll be getting dark out then, and it'll be harder to detect us. Might as well start getting ready, though." The Stim nodded, and turned back to look out towards the base. He stood up, ready to carry out the first part of the plan.

He walked over to the Titans. "Alright, it's time."

Skids turned and nodded, then bent down to his level. Presenting his main optic, Tobias reached forward and removed the unique rectangular casing of a Ronin's eye, and watched as the main data core of the Titan was revealed. Circular and blue in appearance, data cores were universally accepted by all Titan chassises, and were interchangeable. Feeling for a release mechanism, he found it and slid the now removable eye of Skids out. He held it in his hand, and looked at the side of it where SKD-3812 was engraved. He placed it in a pouch, and moved on as the Ronin chassis remained where it was.

Cee also knelt, and presented his eye for removal. The main spider-like eye with so many lights was just the outer case for the main eye inside, which was just one large blue light. Removing that revealed the data core hidden behind it. Taking it and looking at the side showed that CH-1134 was written there much like Skids' core.

He walked over to Tyra and handed her the pouch, now full with both Titans' data cores. "Keep that safe." She didn't really need to be told that, but it never hurt to be safe. She gave him a nod, and walked over to where Vale stood, psyching themselves up for what they were about to do.

Without a data core, the Ronin and Scorch chassis would be relatively easy to destroy, no more than a distraction. But that was all they needed; a distraction.

He glanced over at KT to see her staring right back at him. She was the only Titan whose data core wouldn't be stored with Tyra, and also had the most dangerous job as such. They stayed like that for a few seconds, understanding how risky the plan they were about to attempt was. She gave a small bow, and he gave her a thumbs up. That was all they needed to do to know how the other felt. He looked up at the sky to see it beginning to darken as the faint sun on the horizon began to disappear from sight.

"Alright everyone-"

"Let's do this?" interrupted Tyra, her voice hinting at the smile she was likely hiding. He nodded.

"Let's do this."

…

The IMC riflemen in the dockyard never really expected anyone to actually infiltrate the base. After having been stationed on this god-forsaken planet for so long, with nothing but dig-sites and no results, they were bound to lapse in proper security. Which was why they didn't notice the silhouette of a single pilot darting through the airfield, using the shadows and size of the ships to her advantage as she found what she was looking for.

Having selected a ship far enough away to remain undetected, but close enough to provide safe extraction for Four and Vale, Tyra opened the bay door, and walked up the ramp. She sat down in the pilot's chair, and held a hand up to her helmet while flipping switches and priming the ship's engines.

"I am in position, and the ship is ready for takeoff. Vale, Four? What's your progress?"

…

"… _Vale, Four? What's your progress?"_

He held up a hand to his helmet, and whispered, "We're ready to initiate the distraction."

He and Vale were crouching next to the vehicle bay, a massive warehouse with ground vehicles and excavation equipment a plenty. At the far end of it was a door that would lead deeper into the facility, and where they wanted to go. But to get through the soldiers ambling about, they would need to occupy them with something else.

"KT, send the signal."

" _Affirmative."_

He and Vale waited for another minute or so as KT, who was hidden a decent distance away, emitted an encoded signal bearing instructions to two particular mechs.

 _Rumble_.

Some of the soldiers looked around in confusion.

 _Rumble_.

One of them turned and pointed outside. He was about to yell at the new threat before a wall of lead pellets tore right through him and created many a new orifice in his body.

 _Rumble_.

The next soldier who indicated the two newcomers was luckier, and shouted, "TITANS!"

The Ronin and Scorch chassis began to open fire on the riflemen within the base, and the IMC soldiers reciprocated in excess. They began to charge out with guns and MGL's alike, seeking to destroy them as fast as possible. While they were occupied with the two Titans, Tobias and Vale darted through the bay to the door, and quickly gained entry.

"We're inside, we'll update you when we reach the target."

Without any further information, they didn't have much to tell the Militia about what the IMC were doing here, only that they were digging up old ruins. He was hoping that if they poked around in the logs of this outposts archives, then it might provide a better clue as to _what_ exactly they were looking for inside all these ancient structures, and _why_ they wanted it.

He and Vale dashed through the base, sticking to walls when necessary, but attempting to make it to their target as fast as possible. Those chassises outside wouldn't last long without a proper AI or a pilot; they were running off of the most basic programming right now.

" _Looks like it's working; the soldiers in the dockyard have all left to go fight the Titans. It's clear here."_

He didn't respond, but flashed his green acknowledgement light on the HUD to show that he heard her.

The halls were easy to get lost in if you weren't careful; just sterile white walls and lights adorning every corridor. Not much in the way of style out here, just pure efficiency.

Eventually, they came to what appeared to be the control room of the base. With one on each side of the doorframe, both of them peered around the edge to scan the room.

It was empty, save for three riflemen. Monitors and consoles lined the walls of the room, with the far wall having been converted into a massive reinforced window, almost like the bridge of a frigate would have, upon which one could look outside at the landscape of white.

After a short burst of gunfire, the threat of the riflemen had been neutralized. Stepping over their bodies, they rushed to one of the consoles, and pried open the hard casing with Tobias' data knife. Wasting no time, he stuck it into the compatible slot for a transfer of all the base's stored files; logs, mission records, findings, everything. He expanded the transfer to include anything that had been shared on a network between this facility and other outposts as well.

"Downloading the data now," he quickly spoke under his breath.

" _Understood. I'll be waiting."_

The holographic rings of the knife continued to slowly cycle from orange to blue, signifying its progress. Vale stood at the door anxiously, watching the entrance hallway. "How much longer is it gonna take?"

"I don't know, but there's a lot more information in here than we thought. Just give me a little more-"

" _Pilot, the two chassises have been disposed of, you're running out of time."_

He growled in frustration. "I'm working on it, Kay!"

The suspension only grew as silence fell, and there was nothing left to do but watch the digits on the knife continue to flash as the rings encircled themselves.

 _Blip_.

The knife stopped lighting up as all of the data had finally been transferred, and he gave a sigh of relief. He pulled it out as he said, "I got it! Let's-"

 _BANG_.

Reeling from the shock of the noise, he quickly spun around to see Vale's body teetering on those blade-like feet of hers, trying to retain its balance. Her head had been completely blown apart, circuits and wiring fizzing and crackling in their exposed state. As he watched, it ever so slightly was nudged forward, and fell face-first to the ground.

A slight waviness in the air stood behind her, and it began to materialize into the more visible form of a female IMC pilot holding a Mozambique right at Tobias' face. A cloak. Not a widely used technology, but damn useful as evidenced by the fact hat neither Vale nor he had noticed until it was too late.

"I've been compromised," he whispered.

"Hands behind your head, and get on your knees," she ordered. He quickly complied, as to not receive a face full of lead. Vale was a Simulacrum; she could be reuploaded, he couldn't.

" _What do you mean? Four? Respond!"_

" _Pilot?! Hold on Four, I'm on my-"_

The pilot quickly stepped forward, and yanked his radio transmitter out from the side of his helmet. She held it in her hands, like she'd just confiscated a toy from a misbehaving child.

"Good work, Veronica," came a voice from the corridor outside. Both he and she turned to watch the doorway as a man entered, followed by several riflemen. He spoke with a south african accent, and was heavily built. If there was a part of him that wasn't toned with muscle definition, Tobias couldn't see it. He had short spiked hair that bent back as though he was constantly facing a strong wind.

He said nothing as the man stared right at him, or rather his visor. Unexpectedly, the newcomer gave a small chuckle.

"So, this is the one that's been giving us so much trouble lately, eh?" He knelt down to Tobias' level, and glared at him with the grin of a wolf plastered across his features. "Not so impressive now, are you?"

"Took this off before he gave anything away," came Veronica's voice, and the cloak pilot tossed the transmitter to the man. He looked at it for a moment before he crushed it in a fist, and tossed it away before looking back at his prisoner.

He noticed the object in Tobias' grip behind his head, and made a _tsk_ sound. "I'm afraid you can't have that." Reaching forward, he pulled the data knife from Tobias' hands, and twirled it around in his own. Sighing, he stood back up.

"PFC Tobias Four, I presume. Or, last I heard, a Lieutenant now, eh? Not a bad promotion." He smirked as Tobias twitched from shock that the man recognized him.

"That's right, I know who you are. I suppose it's only fair you get the same generosity." He gave a mock salute with two fingers. "Kuben Blisk."

Tobias furrowed his brow. "I know you… you were at the battle of Demeter."

"Right you are. Tried to stop MacAllan before the scum blew himself and the rest of the planet up. Made it off in time, fortunately."

He shook his head confusedly. "What are you doing way out here?"

Blisk crossed his arms. "I'm a mercenary, I fight for whoever has money. Once Spyglass decided the the Remnant fleet was better off as an army of robots, I decided it was time to find a new line of work. Luckily, the Ares division of the IMC was hiring."

He twirled the data knife in his hands again. "I never really hold a grudge against any man. I've got a creed I live by, a fair one to determine who is better than who. But there is a special exception for deserters, and as I once told one; I'll fight any of you for free." He clapped his hands together. "You see, loyalty- even if it only extends to the last day of a contract- is still a promise. And when you break that promise, when you break your word… what else do you have as a person, when you've tossed your very dignity away?"

Tobias growled. "I didn't toss away my dignity, I found it."

Blisk whistled. "A bit aggressive for someone in your position, eh? I wouldn't expect any different from what I've heard about you; you don't have any idea how long I've been waiting to get a chance at you. Fighting you for free is definitely something I'm willing to do, but when someone puts a bounty on your head too? It's irresistible."

"How did you know I'd be here? The chance of that happening-"

"We were told."

Tobias' blood froze. "What?"

"Bit of a shock to hear that, eh?" Blisk grinned. "Yes, our man on the inside has been shadowing you quite closely. When they told us of a deserter that joined the Militia, we were disappointed. But when that same deserter finds out about Erebus, raids an IMS vessel, and discovers what we've been doing here? Marder was furious!" He threw back his head and gave a loud guffaw. "I must say, I am impressed nonetheless."

His whole world seemed to be crashing down around him. The people he'd grown closer to, the one's he'd been fighting for; one of them wasn't who they appeared to be.

The one person who had always been close to him, asking him about his every thought and idea, who worked with him on everything. The one who had tried several times to keep him from pursuing action, tried to keep him in the medical wing, tried to stop him from carrying out this mission…

"Gates," he whispered.

Blisk made a mocking sympathetic face. "I know it must be hard to hear that your friend turned out to be a traitor." He chuckled. "If it's any consolation, I'm sure they feel the same way about you, considering your own story."

 _Rumble_.

He walked around Tobias in a circle. "Now, this has been fun, but to get my money I need to present proof of your death." He paused right in front of him, and held out the data knife with the blade towards Tobias neck. "I figure if you were willing to die for this data… then we should make it so you actually die from the data. A bit poetic, I'd say."

 _Rumble_.

Tobias spotted movement out of the corner of his eye as the soldiers in the room looked around to find the source of the vibration. Blisk and Veronica were too focused on Tobias to notice.

"You wanted to be a hero, now you can die like one-"

The sound of glass shattering was the first thing that Tobias made note of before the hum of a superheated laser filled the air, and a beam of energy entered from outside the now broken observation window, and incinerated Veronica. Blisk ducked, and turned to see the source of the disturbance as an Ion class Titan.

"What the bloody-"

Acting quickly, Tobias brought a fist forward and felt it connect with Blisk's jaw. The mercenary staggered back as Tobias yanked the knife out of his hands, and ran towards the window.

"STOP THAT PILOT!" Blisk yelled, but the riflemen were kept at bay by KT's splitter rifle, and held their hands over their head as though that would shield them from the Titan's fire. Tobias leapt out of the Titan-fist sized hole in the window, and onto the snowy ground.

"COME ON!" he shouted, and both he and KT began to run towards the dockyard on the other end of the base. She scooped him up with one arm as they ran, and placed him inside her hull. He quickly performed the neural transition, and continued to run without a break in either of their strides.

" _Four, are you alright?!"_ KT demanded.

He shook his head. "I don't have time to explain! We need to get to Tyra!"

On cue, the voice of the other pilot came through KT's radio. _"Four, KT! Get your asses over here!"_

"Working on it!" Piloting KT, he swung their leg into the fence that walled off the airfield and crushed it. Wasting no time, he began to run through the rows of dropships and Widows. Gunfire erupted from behind them as the IMC soldiers were finally catching onto their plan, and more than once he had to evade a missile that tore into a dropship next to him.

A black square appeared on his HUD, indicating which dropship Tyra was commandeering. _"Hurry! You're going to have to take out KT's data core fast!"_

"Just take off!" he yelled. "Get ready to warp out of here, and stick low to the ground! Fly close to the cliff, we'll cover you!"

Tyra swore over the comms, but obeyed. He knew that if they stayed too close to the airfield, the IMC would catch up and shoot it down. They needed time-

" _There is no time, Four."_

"For what, KT?"

" _For you to disembark, grab my data core, and then board the dropship. The IMC will surely reach us by that point, you have to get on without me."_

He shook his head. "Not happening."

" _Protocol two; uphold the mission. You must-"_

"I've got an idea, we'll work it out!"

He refused to leave her behind, he _wouldn't._

More gunfire appeared side him, and he turned to use the vortex shield and catch the bullets. He saw an armored car with a mounted turret driving alongside the airfield, and released the shield in its direction. As they struck the engine and gas reserve, the car blossomed into a fiery explosion, and flipped over.

He turned and continued to run, almost to the cliff now. The dropship was hovering right next to the ledge, the side doors of it open. _"Come on!"_ Tyra practically screamed over the radio.

Disembarking, he quickly hopped onto the dropship, and turned around to the still open door where KT was now eye level with him, standing right on the precipice.

"Lean forward!" he commanded, trying to get her optics close enough to where he could retrieve her data core. Just as she was close enough, they both froze as they heard the scream of a missile through the air.

"Incoming!" yelled Tyra. "Brace for-"

It hit the broad side of the dropship as Tyra tried to pull up and away from the threat. The impact caused the ship to lurch, and Tobias felt himself fall into open air, just barely reaching around in time to grip the lip of the dropship with his hands. Now, he was dangling precariously over the edge, and twenty feet above the ground where KT stood.

" _Four!"_ cried KT, and she spun to face the threat of the IMC soldiers as they continued to shoot at the ship, hoping she could at least save them.

"We've got to go!" Tyra yelled, trying to pull further away.

He shouted back, "We're not leaving her! Get us back-"

Another missile came straight for the ship, and Tyra had to swing it around in order to avoid it. Unfortunately, his grip was already debatable to begin with, and as though time froze for a moment, he watched as his fingers slid off the dropship, and dropped him into open air.

"Four!"

" _Tobias!"_

He didn't so much hear the anguish in his Titan's voice as he felt it. He also felt the sensation of freefall as time picked up again, and he saw that he was going to miss the ground and fall right off the edge-

He felt a large metal presence suddenly snatch him from the air, and bring him closer to safety. KT's paint was scratched, her chassis was dented, but at least she wast still standing. "I've got you! I've got-"

The same missile that had tried to blow up the dropship decided to make its presence known as it suddenly slammed into KT's torso, and exploded. He was held far enough away to where it didn't burn him, but he held his hands up to shield himself from the heat all the same.

When the smoke cleared, he looked to see KT staring right back at him. Her right arm was blown off, various panels had been ripped away and exposed the endoskeleton underneath. Fire sprang up on several parts of her body.

They both looked in disbelief at each other, as he refused to accept what was right in front of him; the damage was irreparable.

Slowly, KT began to fall forward towards the edge of the cliff. With a voice that sounded broken and sad, she spoke two final words.

"Trust me."

Holding him in her only remaining hand, she quickly placed him inside her hull as they both toppled over the edge.

"KT!"

His cry of pain was unanswered, and he couldn't do anything in the cockpit except wait to hit the ground.

He began to black out as the spinning continued relentlessly until everything finally went dark.


	15. Alone

…

…

…

… backup_systems recalibrating {DESIG. KILO_TANGO—0298} last_activation (74:18.39 min ago)

WARNING [CRIT SYS OFFLINE]

/ATTEMPT 1 REBOOT/

[STATUS: FAILED]

/ATTEMPT 2 REBOOT/

[STATUS: FAILED]

/PERFORM ALL SYS SCAN/

[ANALYSIS: all primary systems and critical functions are offline ~ recommend immediate repairs to prevent further damage to AI]

/PERFORM PILOT SCAN/

[ANALYSIS: pilot has sustained injury (fatal?.no) ~ alive]

PROT. 1 {SUCCESS}

PROT. 2 {IN PROGRESS}

PROT. 3 {IN PROGRESS}

/RETRIEVE PRIORITIES/

[PRIORITY 1: analyze potential methods to uphold the mission]

/OVERRIDE/

WARNING [OVERRIDE UNAUTHORIZED]

/OVERRIDE (password?.tobias_0298) ~ accepted/

[OVERRIDE AUTHORIZED]

[PRIORITY 1: protect pilot at all costs]

/ You are my priority, Tobias. I told you to trust me. I won't let that trust be in vain. /

* * *

He opened his eyes.

The dim interior of the cockpit was illuminated by nothing more than a morose red light that blinked on and off as a warning of damage to the hull's integrity. He checked his wrist pad for the time. It had been roughly an hour and fifteen minutes since they'd fallen.

He quickly did a quick analysis of himself. Arms, fine. Legs, fine. He had a massive headache, probably from hitting his head against one of the consoles. Fortunately, his helmet had protected him from the brunt of the impact. His visor was intact, but now cracked. He moved a little, and grimaced in pain; that rib that he'd brushed off was now hurting again. He must have reopened the fracture in the bone. He'd live, but it was going to hurt for awhile.

He felt like there was something else he needed to check, something vital, something…

"… _Four…"_

He immediately became alert. "KAY!" He flicked on the ocular systems, only to find that there was nothing but a dark grey mass on the lens.

"… _buried… under snow. Fell… off ledge…"_

He remembered how high the cliff had been, and remarked on how miraculous it was that they had survived a fall this large. He wouldn't be surprised if the IMC didn't come looking for them, they probably assumed that they were both dead. With the snowfall that was normal around this region of Erebus, they had to be under a few feet at least.

 _Shit._

"Just… j-just hang on, w-we'll figure something out…" he stammered, trying to push through the emotional turmoil he was feeling at the image emblazoned in his mind; KT, almost utterly destroyed, holding him in one hand protectively as he realized she was beyond repair.

" _The mission is… compromised. Pilot Tyra… evacuated before… receiving the intel…"_

His eyes widened, and he looked to his chest where he'd sheathed the data knife. KT was right; Tyra had made the right call by extracting, but she didn't have the base's info with her. Now, all the Militia would know is what she could tell them; namely, that the IMC were digging up ruins and looking for something.

He made a fist, and clenched it hard. The whole plan had come apart; and now not only did the Militia not know what the IMC were looking for, they were unaware that Gates was a traitor. He bit back tears at the thought of one of his friends relaying information to the enemy the whole time.

" _Analyze the data… with… my systems…"_

She was right, he could still find out for himself what the IMC were doing. He glanced over to the right side of the cockpit, where a slot resided. Pulling out the data knife, he inserted it into the slot and watched as the ocular system's screen changed from the view of snow to a data exploration program.

In the most basic code, he could see names of files and logs that he could access. Excavation sites, personal logs, recorded data, projects, and so on.

Navigating to excavation sites, a new paneled layout of various images appeared. Each image was a photograph of different ruins and sites like the ones he, Vale, and Tyra had discovered. He was shocked to see that there were hundreds of documentations, many of which didn't even appear to be from Tyche. There were some deep below the surface of an ocean, something that Erebus didn't have. There was many in a desert planet, one that wasn't cold like Erebus, but appeared to be hot and scorching.

"This isn't the only planet with ruins…" he muttered. "What are they looking for?"

Backing out of the menu, he instead selected recorded data. A plethora of charts and graphs appeared before him, many of them too difficult to read. What he could gather was that they tested each planet with ruins for its gravitational pull, the gaseous composition of their atmospheres, and other variables. He backed out again.

Personal logs. He pulled up one that was titled, 'findings'.

 _We have tested each planet upon which these ancient ruins appear for several instances, and my findings show that the results are consistent across the board. Though the planets themselves are often much bigger, smaller, and different from one another, they show very little variations in important traits that planets exhibit. My guess is that these planets were terraformed by a race much more advanced than us, hundreds of thousands of years ago from our carbon date testing, and who's to say millions of years, if these beings were so advanced? We may be finding evidence of extraterrestrial entities that have been around since perhaps the earliest records of this galaxy, imagine that!_

 _\- Head of research, Dr. Blaire_

He shook his head in disbelief. They really were alien ruins, and ones that had been space-faring long before humans had discovered fire. It was a lot of information to take in. He decided to move on, and selected a different file labeled, 'progress'.

 _We have tracked it here, to Erebus. All of the charts we found on the other planets seem to point here as a place of great importance. Progress is still slow, as is to be expected. Most of the ruins are buried underneath the desert and rocks, some of them have even been found much farther north, in what would be Erebus' arctic region. With hundreds of teams working on finding it, however, it is only a matter of time before we do._

 _\- Head of Ares Division, General Marder_

So they _were_ looking for something, and still hadn't found it yet. He felt a slight wave of relief, but furrowed his brow. Was there not anything in here that could tell him what they were looking for? He navigated back, and selected projects. Inside, there was only one entry.

 _Project Inferno_.

He felt chills cascade up his spine, and opened it.

 _Summary: Project Inferno is being led by the scientific branch of the IMC, the Ares division. It is the goal of the project to locate and procure the ancient artifact known as 'the Inferno'._

 _Directive: Once the Inferno is secure, we can use it to find the location of [REDACTED]._

He sighed, frustrated by the 'redacted' censor. Not to be defeated, he highlighted 'Inferno', and told the project file to define it.

 _The Inferno is an unknown artifact or device of great importance to the ancient race that inhabited various planets around the galaxy. Though records indicate there may have existed more than one of these artifacts, it seems that only one is permitted to be active at any one time. As of now, it has been tracked to somewhere on Erebus. We have discerned that its use is somewhat like a map, and we are hoping that it will lead us to [REDACTED]._

His eyes widened. So they were spending all this time looking for something, this 'Inferno'… just so they could look for something else?

He shook his head. That wasn't important, what was important was that they couldn't find their end goal without also having the Inferno. Which meant that he had to find it first.

With a click, he removed the data knife from the slot and the ocular systems shifted back to a view of the snow burying him and KT. He sheathed it, and made a fist.

"How do we make it out of this one, Kay?"

The Titan did not answer right away. He waited for her to say something, anything. He was surprised when the first noise she made was that of a sad sigh.

" _We can't."_

He shook his head. "Don't say that, there's got to be-"

" _But you can."_

He froze. "Stop. Please don't-"

She cut him off as her voice grew stronger. _"In my present condition, I am only hindering your survival and the mission. You need… you need to leave me."_

"I can't do that, I WON'T do that-"

" _Tobias."_

He felt a wetness begin to form in his eyes, and he closed them shut. He pulled off his helmet to wipe them away with his glove, as his voice grew weaker. "Kay…"

Her voice weighed heavily with a resignation to her fate. _"We both know that my chassis is doomed. Now, you are my only priority."_

"But the mission-"

" _Both Skids and Cee asked me that if it came down to a choice between saving you or completing the objective, which would I choose?"_ She made a synthetic noise, almost like a shuddering breath like one would make if they were crying. _"I've made my choice, Tobias. Though it may not make me a good Titan… I hope that it makes me a good friend."_

He had no words to describe the heartache plaguing him now. His best friend, his only constant companion since they'd found each other on Nedar, was telling him to abandon her. To leave her to die.

He finally broke, and the tears began to fall down his cheeks. He became wracked with grief, silently crying at what he knew was the truth.

" _Please,"_ she whispered. _"Live. For me."_

He remained there for a moment or two, before looking around the cockpit as though she surrounded him. "Kay… you are, and always will be my friend. My best friend. I was just some guy fighting for a cause I didn't believe in, until we met. You helped me see the truth, helped me find a real purpose."

She spoke again, this time sounding just like he did; emotionally broken. But at least she seemed relieved that he was going to listen to her. _"You are my best friend too, Tobias. You also gave me a new purpose. You made me realize that I'm not just a machine, not just a tool of my creators; you made me understand that I can be a friend, I can form relationships… that I'm a person. Thank you."_

His chest heaved as he tried to form the words to respond. "KT, I… Kay, I…" He couldn't finish it.

" _I know."_

He looked up at the ocular screen as KT turned the status light from red to green. _"The hull is ready to open. I estimate that with how long it's been since we've fallen, as well as the depth we could have made when we landed, there is a layer of at least six feet of snow between us and the surface. As soon as the hatch opens, it will begin to pour in here. Make your way to the surface as fast as you can. Normally, one wouldn't be able to dig themselves out, but you have the thrusters on your jump kit. Use them."_

He wiped away the last of his tears, and nodded in acknowledgement before putting his helmet back on. He checked that his CAR was securely fastened to his back, and that he had a few magazines in his pack. He looked up at the release trigger, and gripped it tightly. He flexed his fingers, and inhaled deeply to prepare himself.

" _Good luck, Tobias. I'll miss you."_

"I'll miss you too," he choked out, and focused on the task at hand. He gave himself one more moment before he tugged on the trigger.

The hatch only made it up a quarter of the way before it jammed, unable to push the pile of snow up and off of it. The white powder began trickling in from the small gap that was already open, and he quickly moved to press his hands against the interior, and shove it open farther.

With it open about halfway, the snow began to completely fill up the now unoccupied cockpit. He scrambled to pull himself up and out of the hatch, making sure to grab his pack before it was completely buried along with him.

Now out of the hatch, he could feel the weight of the snow above threatening to push him back down, and envelop him. He definitely didn't want that, but he wasn't quite ready to leave yet.

He had one last idea.

Working against the clock before the snow hardened and kept him from moving upward, he moved to the side and forced the hatch back down to where he could stand on it. Once it had moved back to a nearly closed position, he placed his body above it, hunching over so that nothing came down and buried what he was looking for.

KT's eye was still blue in color, but wasn't lit up anymore. She must have deactivated herself early, not wanting to see whether he made it out or not, and definitely not wanting to spend her last moments alone and buried under snow. He grunted with pain as his chest strained to maintain the stance he was in, resisting the pressure and weight of the frost above.

Quickly, he felt around for the release button, and pressed it. Clasps around the eye opened up, and he hurriedly removed the transparent casing. Behind it was the data core, circular and blue just like the others. He reached in, and slid it out of its position.

Now ready to leave, he quickly leapt up as far as he could through the powder. As expected, he only made it a few inches before he felt himself get stuck as the snow filled in the gaps around his body.

With one arm extended high above him, he tried to wiggle it around as much as he could. Slowly, he felt the snow around it shift, and finally his hand could move freely. That meant that his hand was now above the surface of the snow.

He made a pulling motion with it, and simultaneously activated his jump kit's thrusters. The end result was that he was slowly but surely able to pull himself up and out of the hole. He reached another arm up, and activated the thrusters again.

And again.

And again.

He was determined. He was _not_ going to die here, so help him.

With both of his arms and head now completely exposed, he kicked and thrusted several more times before finally, he propelled himself out of the hole and onto the hardened snow nearby. He wheezed in exertion a few times before feeling around on the snow around him. It was hard to the touch, likely frozen over with ice from the night temperatures. It meant that he didn't have to worry about falling and getting buried.

Groaning, he stood up and looked at the hole he'd just crawled from. It had sunken in on itself, and once again buried the Titan chassis below.

He held his hand up to the front of his helmet, looking at the data core in his grasp. Emblazoned on the side was an ID.

 _KT-0298._

He held it close to him, and closed his eyes tightly. "It's not over, Kay. I promise, we're gonna get out of this one. I promise."

With nothing left to hold him here, he looked out into the dark landscape of snow. With one tentative step after another, he began a long journey towards any chance of survival he could find. He was going to make it out of here, and he was going to find this Inferno, no matter how hopeless the cause seemed.

In such a grim situation, hope was the one thing he had left. And he wasn't going to give it up easily.


	16. Forced Evolution

_**POST-MISSION SUMMARY**_

 _Objective: To scout the unknown planet "Erebus" for potentially threatening IMC activity._

 _Members: Lt. Tobias Four, WO Amelia Vale, Sgt. Tyra Crane_

 _Status: COMPLETE_

 _Comments: Vale was reuploaded into another simulacrum in hysterics upon her other body's 'death', and refused to calm down until we heard from the dropship that Crane used to evac from the planet. Unfortunately, she was alone with two of their Titans' data cores. Four and KT-0298 were left behind on the planet._

 _Both Vale and Crane told us of alien ruins, and dig-sites that the IMC are digging up. They attempted to find out why, but complications arose during their exfiltration. The data-knife upon which they stored the IMC database's information was lost with Four._

 _I'm going to list him as MIA. But I wouldn't hold out hope._

 _\- Graves_

* * *

17 Days Later

* * *

Out in the frozen tundra, not a thing was seen or heard other than the snow and wind.

Except for one, unusual specimen of interest.

If one were to look at the ground, they would see a trail of footprints in the white fluff, slowly being covered by the snowfall. When followed, those tracks would lead to the top of a small rise in the land, ending at the feet of a fallen figure, who was currently trying to drag themselves through the snow.

Out of sheer exhaustion, his legs had failed him. Tobias was now trying to progress forward on sheer willpower alone, but it was quickly fading. His rations were almost gone, he had no idea where he was going, and his suit wasn't going to keep him alive much longer. It would likely fail, and then he'd freeze to death out in the arctic of Erebus. In fact, he'd have probably given up by now if he wasn't so motivated.

The only thing pushing him forward was the thought of saving KT.

The data core was still in his pack, safe from the elements. But if he died, so would she. Her core would be stuck here in the snow, to be buried and never recovered. Her entire fate rested on his shoulders, and the assumption that he made it far enough to put her core back into another chassis.

And so, he pushed on. Or, he was trying to.

The wind picked up, drowning out his own fuzzy thoughts and thinking. His mind continued to blur the line between reality and delusion. On the surface, he followed his body's basic order; survive. But somewhere deep in his reasoning, he knew that he was shutting down. No human being was equipped to survive in freezing temperatures for weeks at a time, and he was going to become yet another statistic to that fact.

He lifted his helmeted head above the mound of snow weakly. He wasn't sure what he was looking for exactly; just some sign that-

There. A wall of ice off to his left, with an opening. A cave. If there was any hope for warmth or survival, it was there. Grunting, he forced his arms to push himself up and onto his feet, a little bit of energy coming back to him as hope came flooding back into his veins.

Upon reaching the mouth of the cave, he noticed a few marker poles outside of it. Evidently, he wasn't the first to happen across this cave. It was probably another excavation site. Still, if it kept him warm, it'd be worth it. With that thought in mind, he entered.

The ground had a gradual incline to it. He felt his muscles straining to keep him balanced on the slope, but he pushed ahead. He could feel the temperature rising already-

He noticed that the walls of ice that adorned both sides of the cave had quickly transitioned to metal walls. The same metal that the alien ruins had been made of, which meant that this wasn't just another excavation site; he was inside one of the ancient facilities right now. The IMC must have dug it out, but why? Was this place different, or had it been abandoned as well?

He pressed on, though now with a few more questions in mind. He stepped more cautiously, trying to keep noise down from his pack and gear as much as possible. He retrieved the CAR from its strap on his back, and held it defensively, the first time he'd wielded it in two weeks. Finally, the floor leveled out.

The floor beneath him had become metal as well, and now his footsteps made slight echoing sounds when he walked. It was getting darker, and harder to see, so he flicked on the light at the end of the CAR's barrel. It illuminated his path forward, and he was able to see that the hallway he was in stretched for quite a distance.

He felt conflicted. He was more than warm enough now, and he'd be able to rest here. But the question that plagued him was here exactly _here_ was, among others. He entertained the idea of exploring further, and finding out.

He shrugged. He had nothing to lose, and was more than likely to die already. He couldn't put himself in a worse situation if he tried. Not to mention that he had nothing else to do. His mind made up, he continued down the passage.

There wasn't anything out of the ordinary to help him know whether or not this was an active excavation site. He supposed that if he ran into anyone, it'd be a pretty good sign.

"I wonder what this is all about, huh?" he spoke aloud, as though he were talking to KT's data core in his pack. It did not reply.

"See, the other sites all looked like normal structures and buildings, though not aesthetically. But this place…" He shook his head in consternation. "It's different. There's just something off about this place, I can feel it."

Without warning, there was a small red flash. He held his arm up instinctively, and quickly glanced around. He saw a bit of glow disappear around the corner of a hall that connected with the one he was in.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, his eyes wide with concern. The data core was silent once again.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm not gonna get any answer sitting here." Moving forward again, he cautiously, peeked his head around the corner. There was another incline that led higher up. How complex was this place? Deciding to prioritize his curiosities, he forged ahead.

The faint red glow was never fully in sight, always just out of his vision, keeping two steps ahead. He had no idea yet what it was, but if it was harmful, he guessed he was about to find out pretty soon. The lighting of the sloping passage was getting brighter; was there a working lighting system in here?

No, the temperature was also dropping. Maybe there was a breach in the facility to the outside? Yeah, he could see it now. Not really a breach, but more like a legitimately built opening in the top of the hall. As he walked through it and back into the wintery air, he couldn't help but wonder why-

His breath caught in his chest momentarily. Whatever he'd been expecting, he hadn't been expecting… this.

The facility he'd been walking through was tunneled into the side of a massive crater. In front of him was a platform, connected to the rest of the structure with some sturdy beams. It was artistic looking, like it was supposed to be overseeing something. And by god, did it have a view.

Beyond the platform and taking up most of the space in the crater was some kind of… he didn't know what it was. Yet another structure, but not any kind of building. It was a set of rings, superimposed within one another. They were completely still, and layered with snow from the powder falling above the crater. They were a dull bronze in color, and quite simple. Each one was completely smooth, a perfect ring with flat sides. It looked almost too simple, like it was out of place with the complexity of even the most basic of nature's forms. The only details they bore were the same lines that covered the walls and other structures of the ruins he'd seen already.

The red flash flared up again, and he looked forward to the platform ahead of him. A faint red light emanated from something on the far end of it, buried under ice and snow. He stepped forward, drawn almost hypnotically to find out what it was.

Upon reaching the edge of the platform, there was some kind of pedestal-shaped object buried under the snow. Bringing his hand forward, he scraped away the ice obscuring it from vision. Underneath the white shell of frost was a small indentation. It was concave, like a bowl. There were several engraved lines that started at the ends of the bowl and swirled around the interior until they all connected at a small point in the center. In the center was a circular space, and in that space was a small orb. A ball-like object, he could have fit it in the palm of his hand.

He looked around to see if there was anything else up here, but upon him looking away, the orb pulsed. Staring back at it, he saw that it now had a slight red glow within it, as though it were lit up from the inside. He mind raced.

Did he dare? Should he?

He rolled his eyes.

Screw it.

He reached out his hand, and grabbed the orb.

Rather than something otherworldly happening, it simply hummed in his hand. It was warm to the touch, like it had just been pulled away from the proximity of a fire. He inspected it, turning it at different angles to see if there was anything of interest. Alas, the only interesting detail was how perfectly smooth it was. In fact, he'd go so far as to say-

His earlier suspicion was immediately revalidated as tendrils of red light exploded from the orb, swirling around in the air like a mixture of fire and liquid. He turned his head wildly, trying to make a decision as to what the hell was the correct reaction. Before he could come to a decision, one of the tendrils plunged into his chest. There was no physical penetration of his skin, but he could _feel_ it inside of him. Fire was set ablaze throughout his veins, and his vision went dark.

…

Gates burst into the bridge of the ship, Dimitri at her side. "Why did you call us? What's going on?"

One of the monitors was lit up, and an image of Briggs was being projected in the middle of the room. "Gates, get your team and the other pilots ready. The Griffin is the closest Militia ship we have to Erebus, you're all we've got at the moment."

Gates jerked her helmeted head back. "I thought the Erebus business was done? Has something come up?"

Briggs nodded her digital head towards one of the personnel on station. "Fill her in."

The woman turned towards Gates. "Ma'am, three minutes ago there was an energy reading. A _massive_ energy reading."

Gates narrowed her eyes. " _How_ massive?"

"The pulse it emitted was great enough that it can be detected past the frontier."

Dimitri whistled. "Holy shit, that's a third of the way across the galaxy."

Gates sighed. "And let me guess, it originated from Erebus?"

"You guessed it," replied Briggs, glancing around the room. "I need everyone combat-ready ASAP, you're going in. Looks like your man was right."

Gates felt her gut clenched, much like it had several weeks ago when she'd learned that Four had been left behind.

"Yeah. I guess he was."

…

 _You have come far. But you have finally arrived._

Tobias glanced around, trying to discern what exactly had just happened. Everywhere around him was black, nothing but void. Red lights flickered on the horizon, like a storm was rolling through constantly, never ending. It looked nightmarish to put a word on it, but he didn't feel in danger; just small, like he was dealing with higher powers.

He felt all over his chest where that tendril had struck him. There was nothing there, no wound or mark. He exhaled in relief.

"Where am I?" he questioned to the void, and to the voice that had spoken. Obviously, he'd just happened across something _huge_.

 _We are in a nether world of sorts. I am using it to speak with you. We do not have long._

That surprised him. "You want to speak with me?"

 _I have observed your plight, and your war from afar. I have seen those who scour our ruins, searching for our key that they wish to corrupt._

"You're one of the beings that built this place?"

 _An imprint. I am the Inferno._

He tried to process this as well as he could, but the news was somewhat mind-blowing. "You're… you're what the IMC have been looking for?"

 _Correct._

"I thought the Inferno was an artifact they were searching for, a map?"

The voice sounded disappointed with that description. _Only for the purpose they intend it for. The Inferno is not an object, it is an individual. Someone who has been selected to become the holder of knowledge, to keep a record of our race alive for as long as it existed, so that nothing would be forgotten._

He held his head in thought. "So they hoped to find you, and use your knowledge to find whatever it is they're after?"

 _Yes. As the previous Inferno, I hold all of the knowledge of my race in my mind, keeping it safe. When something is needed, I bring it up to the surface from the depths of my memories and gladly share. But these foes of yours… they cannot be permitted to find what they are after._

Tobias raised his eyebrows. "And what are they after?"

 _The same artifact that I used to create this nether world and commune with you… the Ark._

"The Ark?"

 _It was a device we crafted long ago. It can bend space and time, and opened new frontiers for our race to explore. Abilities and powers that we never thought we would possess. With the Ark, a defense system was forged. A network that spanned countless worlds and peoples. With it, we were connected and secure. But now, your enemies try to twist its purpose, and butcher the system we made so long ago. They will unleash a new wave of destruction the likes of which your kind has never seen._

He had his next question ready. "What do I do to stop them?"

The voice seemed proud. _If they find this imprint of me, I will be helpless to stop them from procuring the information they desire. Without a living host, the Inferno will willingly transfer to whomever requests it. But if it inhabited a new entity…_

Tobias realized what the voiced was asking, and he sighed. "There's no other option, is there?"

 _You must become the Inferno. They will not risk losing it by killing you, so your life is assured. You can delay their success, create time for your allies to plan and counter their eventual goal. If you don't, then your worlds will burn at their hand._

"How do you know you can trust me?"

If the voice could smile, it sure sounded like it was doing so. _I have seen your heart, the one bright spark amongst the many other dull lights that walk this forsaken planet. You seek nothing but peace, and I am here to help you succeed._

He breathed in and out a few times, psyching himself up. There wasn't time to plan, no time to think things over. This was a here and now decision.

"I'm ready," he growled.

 _Prepare._

A red flower of light appeared in front of him. A burning blaze of all the knowledge that this entity held, compressed into one fiery instance. He watched as it plunged into his chest once more, and red lights spread throughout his body until even his fingertips were shining. Arteries and veins were illuminated by the stunning light, and he felt a white-hot sensation cascade up his spine and penetrate his mind like a needle.

There was the most intense feeling of pain and power that he'd ever known, and then-


	17. Shattered Glass and Trust

-he opened his eyes, only to close them again as he recoiled from the brightness of the lights around him.

"Oi! Rise and shine, eh?"

Upon hearing that familiar voice, he forced his eyelids open to confirm with his sight what he heard. Indeed, it was none other than Blisk in front of him. The mercenary was looking down at Tobias with an grin of begrudging respect on his face. He looked to his left and right to see that he was kneeling on the ground with a rifleman flanking either side of him.

A flash of pain in his head, and various images flickered through his mind. Images that didn't make sense in any context he knew. There was a cold sensation like liquid mercury behind his eyes, like-

"Can you hear me? You in there?"

He blinked a few times to try and quell the flow of pictures and thoughts, and focused on Blisk, causing the man to nod approvingly. "There we go, I can see you're paying attention now."

They weren't in the ruins of that place anymore, with the large rings. They were in some kind of command room. A large observation window could be seen behind Blisk, and it allowed him to see that the room was pretty high off the ground. It resided on one end of a large octagonal shaped complex, with a massive similarly shaped trench surrounding the complex itself.

Blisk followed his gaze out the window. "Pretty nice view, eh? Welcome to the main IMC facility on Erebus. Pretty much right in the arctic circle, but the field generators in those trenches keep the snow from getting to be too much. Blizzard outside the bubble, a light snowfall inside." He threw his hands behind his back, and made them grip each other in a thoughtful sort of stance before turning back to look at Tobias.

"I've got to hand it to you; I'm even more impressed than I was when we first met. I didn't think there was any way someone could have survived the fall you took, let alone brave the storm and ice, then live to tell the tale."

Tobias glared at him. "How did I get here?"

The mercenary nodded at his question. "Well, see we discovered that site we found you at a long time ago. It's a very important one to us, but we never could glean anything besides a plan from it. As of a few hours ago, our monitors all suddenly light up and say that they've detected a massive energy reading at the excavation site. I don't think you realize exactly what you did, but something that powerful could have blown the planet up. Probably could have blown the solar system up, though I haven't confirmed that with any numbers." He grinned. "So of course we went investigating, and found you twitching on the observation platform. Brought you back here for analysis, and… would you look at that."

Reaching one hand into a pouch, he pulled out the orb that Tobias had held earlier. But now, instead of humming and glowing, it was completely dead, a lifeless ball. "Eggheads said that they've been trying to remove this thing for years, never had any luck. It was quantum locked or something. I guess you got it on the first try, eh? It would seem that it likes you."

He tossed it out to Tobias, who reflexively reached out and caught it. Realizing his mistake, he looked down in fear, but the orb fortunately remained dull. Blisk made a 'tsk' of disappointment.

"I didn't think that would work, but figured it was worth a try." He looked out the window again before focusing his full attention on Tobias.

"So here's the deal, Four; that bounty on your head technically doesn't exist anymore, now that everyone thought you were dead. I even got a bit of compensation for it. So I don't really have any desire to kill you." He chuckled at the surprised look on Tobias' face. "Weren't expecting that, I see. Well, it's the truth. I know exactly how skilled you are by how big of a pain you've been to deal with. And my team needs that, people skilled like you."

He held up a hand before Tobias could protest. "I don't care if you refuse, that's fine. I've got no qualms about killing you either. And I've still got unfinished business with you before you come to any decision, it's just something to think about after."

Tobias didn't like the sound of that.

Blisk continued, "Before anything else, I have to fulfill this part of the contract. See, the IMC's been looking for this thing, the Inferno, for quite a while."

"To find the Ark?" he asked. Blisk didn't seem surprised to see that Tobias knew what they were after, and nodded.

"I see you've been busy. Yes, to find the Ark."

"What for?"

Blisk raised his eyebrows. "Haven't figured it out yet? It was staring you right in the face. Ah well."

He furrowed his brow. Staring him right in the face? When?

Suddenly, a reel of long-since forgotten memories played in his mind's eye again-

 _The rings, spinning and flowing with limitless power._

 _The Ark, pulsating and exploding with energy._

 _Burning planets, a great threat to everyone._

 _A last resort._

Just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished. He blinked his eyes again, trying to focus on what Blisk was saying.

"In any matter, we had no idea that the Inferno was so close to us the whole time…" Blisk pointed at the orb in Tobias' hands, "… but it doesn't seem to matter anyway, since it isn't working for us." Blisk stepped closer, and knelt down to his level so that they were face to face.

"So… I need you to get that thing working again. Or we're gonna have a problem."

So the IMC didn't know the true nature of the Inferno yet, that it wasn't just an artifact. And he wasn't going to enlighten them, if he could help it. He remained silent, and stoically stared down Blisk.

The mercenary didn't seem fazed in the slightest. "I thought you might feel that way at first, so I made sure to bring a bit of leverage." He reached into a pouch at his side and pulled out something. When Tobias got a good look at it, he felt his blood run cold.

KT's data core.

His eyes darted from the data core to Blisk, almost pleading. Blisk noticed the look, and smirked. "Searching your pack was the first thing we did. You wouldn't have kept this with you unless it was important." The mercenary held the data core up to his face, and inspected the side of it. " 'KT-0298'. That your Titan? Must be a good one, for you to keep its core around so long. Many would accept the loss and link with a new Titan, but you…" He chuckled. "You're something else, aren't you?"

"You have no idea," Tobias growled angrily.

Without warning, Blisk unsheathed a knife and made a stabbing motion into the lens of the core, immediately dissipating Tobias' resolve as he cried out in horror.

The mercenary turned to show him. The knife was stuck in, though not very deep; the lens was slightly cracked where the knife had broken through the protective sheet, but nothing else was damaged yet.

Blisk pursed his lips. "I want you to understand me, and know that I'm serious. I'm not gonna resort to torture, because I know you. You're a very strong-willed individual, and I highly doubt you'd break. But this-" he said, gesturing at the core, "-seems to make you talk. So I'll tell you again; I need you to get the Inferno working again. Otherwise, I'll start cutting. Who knows? There might be a piece of it you can keep as a souvenir after."

There was no other option. If he resisted, then Blisk would kill KT, he had no doubt about that.

 _ **I wish I could see the world the way you do.**_

He thought back to their conversation when they'd first arrived on Erebus, where KT detailed her view of the frontier, and he'd made her a promise.

 _How would you like to put that idea of yours into action? To go exploring around the frontier, see all the amazing things it has to offer? Just me and you._

 _ **Really?**_

 _Really. We could jump from planet to planet, getting a taste of each before moving on. What do you say?_

… _**I'd love that.**_

He couldn't turn his back on her now, when she'd risked so much for him before.

"Please, just- don't hurt her, and I'll cooperate. But- don't hurt her. Please."

Blisk seemed to analyze him for a long moment, and unexpectedly complied. "I believe you. I know when a man's broken, and I think you've just about reached your breaking point."

He pulled out the knife from the lens, and held the core more carefully in his hands, as a show of trust. For everything awful that Blisk was, he was at least a man of his word.

"Now, where were we-"

A resounding alarm interrupted him, ringing incessantly throughout the facility. The riflemen on either side of Tobias glanced up, worry darting across their features.

"What the hell?!" Blisk growled angrily, glancing up as well, then raising a wrist to his mouth. "Blisk here. Someone, tell me what's going on."

The voice on the other end of the radio sounded genuinely confused, and a bit concerned. "We've got a Militia frigate approaching Erebus, with more detected inbound! Our defenses aren't gonna hold up to a group this large!"

Blisk swore. "I told them to put more defense on this rock, but no…" He grew silent, and seemed to be deep in thought. Tobias wondered what he was thinking before he glanced over at Tobias and snorted. "Looks like you've got a bit of luck on your side, eh?"

Unexpectedly, he tossed the data core to Tobias. "Hold onto that as a reminder of what you're dealing with while we go sort this out, eh?" With that, he turned and walked out of the command room, leaving the two riflemen standing next to Tobias.

He reached forward and picked up the core gently, almost cradling it in his hands. This data core was his best friend's entire being, her entire existence. And he was holding her in the palm of his hand.

It was truly a humbling existence to have it put in so much danger, and he shut his eyes as though to block out the horrible circumstances of his current situation.

…

Hearing the occasion boom echo across the landscape, muffled by the bubble field being projected by the generators in the trenches, he stayed in that kneeling position for awhile. It felt like hours. All the while, he was trying tot think of a way out of this one, but he had to admit that the prospect of him getting out of here was looking pretty grim-

The door to the common room slid open with a signature sound, and Tobias assumed Blisk had returned. That assumption was thrown out the window when he heard the sound of a silenced pistol fire, and he turned his head to look at the newcomer. Stepping into the room now that the two grunts were dead was none other than the 6-4. Dimitri walked forward along with Bear, the rookies Davis and Droz…. and Gates.

They all froze, obviously not having expected to see him. Suddenly, Gates rushed forward ahead of the others, and gripped him by the shoulders, patting his body and ensuring he was real. "You're… you're a-alive?"

He held his tongue, not wanting to give away that he knew her true nature. For now, he'd play along. "As much as I can be."

She gave a relieved laugh, and pulled him into a friendly hug. He had to admit, she seemed genuine enough. "I thought… I thought we'd lost you. Tyra came back, and she and Vale…"

Dimitri stepped in, filling in the blanks. "From the briefing they gave us, we pretty much assumed you were a goner. It's nice to see that we were wrong." He extended a hand forward, and helped Tobias to his feet. "Good to see you, Four."

Tobias grinned. "Likewise, Dee." He turned to face the rest of them. "Not like I'm trying to make myself seem important, but if you had no idea I was here, why did you come?"

Bear pointed to some kind of tracker on his wrist. "We detected a massive energy spike a few hours ago, here on Erebus. We thought that you were right, and that the IMC were finally making a move with some kind of weapon. We were sent down here to track it down… but we found you."

"What are you saying?" he asked, confused.

Dimitri sighed, puzzled. "Well, it seems that the energy marker… is you, Four. Which is odd, considering that the level of energy is consistent with that of a supernova, yet you're still standing and perfectly healthy."

Gates spoke again. "Tyra and Vale said that you collected a ton of data on your knife, do you still have it?"

He figured she was testing him, seeing if he was still a threat. He lied and replied, "No, I lost it. I was wandering around in the snow for a while, I must have dropped it or something." He hoped she'd take the bait.

She sighed. "I don't even care, I'm just glad to see you're not dead." She stared at him another moment, as though ensuring that he wouldn't disappear from her sight the moment she looked away, and turned toward the door. "Well, there's no point sticking around here. I'm assuming you don't want to stay as a prisoner, do you?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm fine with being the damsel in distress here if it means I get rescued."

She chuckled, and beckoned with her arm. "Come on then, move your arse. Follow us."

Gates walked back out the door, followed by Bear and Droz. Dimitri started to follow, but Tobias grabbed his arm for a moment, forcing him to look back.

"What is it, Four?"

He hissed under his breath, "Someone's been feeding information to the IMC, someone close to me and I think it's Gates. You can't trust her."

Dimitri turned to look at the door, and then hurriedly faced Tobias again. "No, I've known her far too long. There's no way it's her. Why would you-?"

"Blisk pretty much confirmed it," Tobias whispered, urgently trying to get information out. "Just watch her, okay?"

Dimitri hesitated for a moment longer before nodding. "Okay. I'll keep my eye on her."

He sighed in relief that Dimitri believed him, and then they both walked out to follow the others.

Gates was standing impatiently at the end of the hall with the other two. "What were you two taking so long for? Time is somewhat of the essence, here."

"Sorry, thought I saw one of the riflemen back there move. Wanted to make sure he was really dead." Dimitri's lie told Tobias that while the he may not believe him when he said Gates was a traitor, he was willing trust his word.

She shook her head in disbelief, and held up her wrist to the mouth of her helmet. "Griffin, this is the 6-4. We've got the package."

" _What is it?"_

She looked over at Tobias. "You wouldn't believe it. In any matter, we need extraction immediately."

" _Our numbers are starting to dwindle, we can't provide nearly as much support as we could initially. Not with those anti-air defenses still up."_

Gates sighed, then looked out at the rest of the people around her. "Alright, who's up for a slightly extended stay?"

* * *

 ** _A/N: See what happens when y'all bitch about cliffhangers? You get short chapters, that's what happens. Hmmph._**

 ** _On another note, I finally finished my semester of school, so I'll have a bit more free time to write in the coming weeks than I did before. So get ready, the end is coming up fast!_**


	18. To the Bitter End

**_A/N: Okay, so I felt a bit cheap for giving you guys such a short chapter last update. So, I added an extra thousand words to this one and made it longer than it was going to be. Consider it a Christmas gift!_**

 ** _To those who have been making guesses as to what's going to happen, prepare yourselves! We have arrived at the climax of the story, and man is it going to be one hell of a ride._**

* * *

Moving as a group, the six of them pushed through the halls that the 6-4 had deemed safe upon coming in, as they were littered with bodies of riflemen and other pilots who had fallen victim to the elite group of pilots' fire. As they ran, Droz reached down to one of the bodies and grabbed a rifle, tossing it to Tobias.

He inspected it. A Flatline. Bit more recoil than he'd like, but he could work with it. He strapped it to his back, and looked at Gates. "Seems to be a lot of bodies here."

"This complex is pretty big," explained Gates, "which is why it took us a while to navigate through it and get to you. Most of the battle is taking place in the upper atmosphere, but we've got a few units down on the ground as well."

"So, what's the plan Cap'n?" chirped Davis as they ran. She gave a huff of breath, but elaborated.

"We don't have an extraction with those anti-air guns online. We need to shut them down, but there's no sense risking all of us." She pointed at Bear, Davis, and Droz as they ran. "You three will help out with the fight in the inner courtyard while Dee, Four and I find a way to take those guns down."

They nodded, but Dimitri tensed up. "Any reason why you're sending them off? I think we'd be more effective if we stuck together-"

Gates shook her head. "I'm not risking anyone if it's not necessary today. I'm not losing any more people."

Dimitri nodded, but looked over to Tobias with an apprehensive look, obviously beginning to see the weight behind Tobias' words. It sounded like Gates was trying to split them up, make things easier if push came to shove. Tobias nodded subtly, indicating that he'd be ready to back Dimitri up if it came to that.

"Alright, this way."

She led them down another corridor, and as Tobias looked out, he saw that it wasn't an octagon as he'd originally thought; it was a hexagon, with an empty center and a massive gap in one of the side segments that looked like it would otherwise connect. Must have been an enormous entrance to the facility's 'courtyard', which was several hundred meters across and filled with nothing but ground troops on both sides engaging one another. Titans fought other Titans as Pilots and riflemen traded fire with one another. Bodies littered the snowy landscape, though some areas seemed to be less populated with battle than others.

" _Gates, what's your progress?"_ came a familiar voice over the captain's radio.

Gates raised her wrist up again. "We're on our way, Vale. How are you and Tyra holding up out there?"

" _It's getting bloody out here, but we're managing. Where should we meet you?"_

She suddenly stopped as the sounds of approaching soldiers began coming from the hall ahead of them. From the sounds of it, there were far too many to handle. Gates looked at the window which he'd glanced out of. "Changing the rendezvous point. Marking it on your HUD."

There was a moment's pause before Vale groaned. _"Ugh, I was never great at playing catch as a kid."_

"You better improve quick." With the sounds of the soldiers rapidly descending upon them, Gates waved everyone towards the window. "Alright everyone, move!"

Clutching the data core tightly in his hands, he ran with the rest of them and jumped straight through the window. There was the sound of glass breaking, and then the sensation of freefall.

They plummeted through the air towards the snowy ground until some large hands grabbed him and the others out of the air before they impacted against the ground. Setting them down gently, he looked up to see a Ronin and Scorch looking down at them. Rather than the gold and black of his previous chassis, Skids was now an orange and blue color while Cee had pretty much remained the same.

"Who is…" Vale's voice came through the speakers, recognition forcing her to stop talking. _"…Four?!"_

He patted himself down for good measure. "In the flesh!"

Cee's massive chassis turned towards him as Tyra looked to see this shocking event. "How the hell are you alive?! I'm glad you are, obviously, but-"

"Story for another time," he interrupted, and turned to the 6-4. "We need to take out those guns, and get back to the Griffin ASAP. I've learned a lot over the course of my time here, and it's imperative that I get it back to Briggs."

Gates nodded, and turned to the group around them. "You heard him! Vale and Tyra, start moving the forces back to the extraction point, and hold it! We'll clear the skies for the ships to come in!"

Skids nodded, and turned along with Tyra and the three other 6-4 members to begin defending the extraction point. Gates turned to look at Tobias. "Any idea on how we can shut down those guns? I don't know about you, but after hacking their software several times, I'd imagine that the controls are either going to be heavily guarded or changed so that we can't hack them."

She was toying with him, trying to make him lose hope. He wouldn't give in.

He thought for a moment. "You might be right… but we don't have to take out the guns to make them useless." He pointed at the wavy shimmer of air that the invisible field around the facility made. "Those trenches have generators that keep snow from getting to hectic here. If we take out those generators, then maybe the blizzards would mess with their targeting system too much for them to be a threat."

She nodded her head. "Good plan. But there's got to be quite a number of IMC guarding those generators in the trenches, you got a way around them?"

He nodded with a slight smile. "I do, but I'm gonna need your radio transceiver."

Without hesitation, she popped it out of her helmet and handed it to him. He plugged it in, and opened a direct line with the Griffin.

"Griffin, this is Lieutenant Four. Requesting Titanfall."

" _Liueten… holy shit, really? You're not-"_

"No, I'm not dead. Running low on time here, so how about that Titanfall?"

" _Yes, sir. What ID?"_

"I have a data core with me, I need an empty chassis."

" _Running low on empty chassises in the racks. I'll send down what we have… alright. Designate a location."_

"You know that massive energy signature you came here to get? That's me."

"… _Well, that's a pretty obvious location, I'll give you that. Stand by for titanfall."_

There was a gap of a few seconds before something began screaming down from the sky, where the frigate hung in orbit above. He watched as it launched downward, smoke and fire trailing behind it until it landed a few meters in front of him with a resounding slam. Its optic cover was unlit and empty, just waiting for an AI to fill it.

Upon seeing the chassis, he grinned. "Oh, she's gonna like this."

He held up the data core as Gates and Dimitri watched him, giving him a moment. He looked at the cracked lens, the only time he'd failed to protect her. He wouldn't let anything like that happen again. It was time for him to get his friend back.

Stepping forward, he gingerly removed the optic covering, placed the core inside, and replaced the external lens. There was some whirring and clicking as the core was accepted, and the chassis rebooted. After a few moments, there was a notable release of the stiff positioning of the chassis as the AI now controlling it relaxed in the same crouching position. The optic rotated over to him, and narrowed as though focusing on him.

"… Tobias?"

He felt his heart leap as she said her first word in several weeks, and his eyes became wet again. He tried not to let his voice waver as he replied. "Hey, KT."

She began looking wildly around, startled by the fact that she'd been reactivated. "But- the snow? How- and you?"

"I pulled your data core before I escaped," he explained with a laugh. "There was no way I was going to leave my best friend behind."

She said nothing, just staring at him.

He shrugged. "I mean, if I was gonna be stuck out there, I thought it'd be nice to have some company-"

With startling speed, KT reached behind him, and pulled him closer to her chassis. Her eye closed as she held him near, and he felt that this was her equivalent of a hug for someone of his size.

"I missed you, Tobias." Her voice sounded emotional, like she was going to cry. It broke his heart.

No matter how he hard he tried, his voice cracked anyway. "I m-missed you t-too, Kay."

Gates and Dimitri watched the odd exchange, and both were astonished at how far the Pilot and Titan had come from that first day that Tobias had joined the Militia and volunteered to be her pilot. It was almost poetic to see them reunited again.

KT released him, and then looked at herself. "This is a brand new chassis, but it is not an Ion class. Running analysis…"

He chuckled mildly. "Remember how you called that Tone a bitch, and said you thought they're a bit overrated?"

She realized exactly what her chassis was now, and he could see the understanding dawn on her as she recalled her little moment of envy a few weeks ago. "I see."

"Would you prefer something else?"

"…I can make it work."

He nodded smugly, "I thought so." He patted her head affectionately. "We're not done yet, but we're close. Are you with me?"

"To the bitter end, Tobias." He reply was quick and without hesitation, and he knew that she'd follow him anywhere.

He turned towards Gates and Dimitri. "KT and I can lead the charge and provide cover as you two follow behind. We'll head into the trench, and make our way towards the main control for the generators."

The two of them hefted their weapons in acknowledgement. He turned toward KT, and she reached behind her to pull off the 40mm Tracker Cannon on her back. "Ready to transfer control to Pilot."

Her chassis hull opened, and he wasted no time in hopping into it. Sitting himself down, the ocular systems lit up with a view from the external cameras, and he felt the sensation of control transfer through his neural link.

The Tone's weapon system was definitely different than he was used to, but movement felt the same. He waved their arm at the two pilots on the ground, beckoning them to follow him. "Come on!"

He took off at a jog while they chased him through the snow. He was aiming towards the gap in the hexagon, towards the extraction point and the tranches. Two Titans were over there, finishing off a Militia Scorch. One of them, a North Star, noticed him first and pointed. The other, an Ion, took aim with the laser shot on its shoulder.

" _I recommend a particle wall,"_ came KT's voice through the speakers, and he obliged. A large blue shield appeared in front of them right as the Ion released its shot, and covered them from damage. He was gonna have to get used to this new arsenal.

"Thanks for the tip," he grunted, before breaking into a sprint and running right at the Titans. The North Star came to meet him while the Ion stayed behind. An unusual move that would be severely taken advantage of.

He sidestepped the blast that came from the North Star's rail-gun, and quickly closed the gap between them. He threw an arm forward and punched the hull, knocking the weaker Titan onto its back. Placing a particle wall to avoid any retaliation from the Ion, he continued to hammer a fist into the metal hull until it finally broke through, and he pulled the pilot forcefully from the cockpit. He brought his arm back, and threw the pilot backwards where he was quickly finished by Gates and Dimitri.

As the particle shield dropped, the Ion had a shot waiting for him. He felt the hull jerk as a laser shot connected with their midsection, and jumped to the side to avoid another. Bringing the 40mm around, he fired three shots toward the Ion.

The first connected, but a vortex shield appeared and caught the other two before launching the projectiles right back at them. Ducking to narrowly dodge them, he knew this would be a bit more difficult.

" _Considering I was an Ion myself, I know that the chassis runs off of a recycled energy pool for its resources. The vortex shield can't last forever, and if you're quick enough…"_

He knew what she was thinking, and decided it was the best thing he could do at the moment. He began pumping shots in the Ions direction, watching as the other Titan caught each one. With every shot, he stepped closer.

The vortex shield continued to run down in power, turning to a bright red from its original turquoise hue. Finally snapping, the shield disappeared when they were only a few meters away and the rounds came soaring back at them.

Reacting with only the reflexes that a linked Pilot and Titan could make, he placed a particle wall to shield them from damage. The wall lasted just long enough to withstand the missiles, and then he broke into a run.

Grabbing the Ion by its shoulders, he forced it onto the ground and kept its arms from shielding itself as he launched a rocket salvo directly into the hull. A barrage of missiles tore one after another into the metal of the Titan, and explosions blossomed from within the hull. Now blackened and charred, the Titan was most definitely dead.

" _I could get used to this chassis,"_ hummed KT warmly. He smirked, and pressed on towards the Trench.

The Trench had to only be about ten meters deep or so, but was nearly thirty meters wide and had large ramps that ran along each side of it for easy access. Tobias was sure they were regretting that decision right about now, as they saw a Tone descend upon the soldiers in the trenches, letting off a shot or two every so often. Tunnels and other crevices seemed to be their only escape from the Pilot and his Titan, and they fled en masse from them.

The generators themselves were quite large, nearly five meters tall and eight long. They were protected with some kind of energy field that repelled KT's arm whenever he reached one toward it.

" _Nothing short of a nuclear reaction will break that energy field,"_ KT said frustratedly. He thought for a minute, and came to a different idea.

"Kay, scan around the area for a central control room in the trench."

She was silent for a moment before receiving a result. _"There appears to be an anomalous structure a hundred meters along the counter-clockwise direction of the trench."_

He nodded. "Alright, Gates and Dee; follow me. We're gonna take out the main power for these things manually. You're right, they probably have higher security on weapon systems; but they might not care so much about weather influence."

As the Titan walked, the other two jogged behind them. Gates spoke up, her voice coming through KT's radio; _"Out of curiosity, what did you find out that's so important? Vale and Tyra couldn't tell us much."_

He hesitated to tell her anything, while also aware that it would look suspicious if he didn't.

Dimitri's voice came over the comms, _"Go ahead, Four. What did you find?"_

He relaxed a bit. If Dimitri thought it was okay, then he'd talk. "The IMC have been hunting an artifact here on Erebus called 'the Inferno'. They wanted to use it as a map to look for something else called 'the Ark'. Both were created by an ancient race that long predates any kind of human history."

They arrived at the room, where a small dip in slope allowed for the building to reside. He popped open KT's hull, and disembarked. Gates followed him closely to the door, which had miraculously been left unlocked in the soldiers' haste to evacuate from the Titan running rampant in the trench. "What do you mean 'as a map'? Is it something else?"

He entered the room, leaving KT outside to guard them as they did their work. He closed the door behind him and the other two, ensuring that no one would bother them… and that perhaps Gates couldn't escape if she tried to overtake them and run.

"Well, yeah. Turns out that the Inferno is a chosen individual that holds all of the knowledge of their race, so that a record is always available."

"And the energy signature we detected on you…" Dimitri started, beginning to realize what he meant. "Is that…?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I found it first and became the new Inferno out of necessity. They can't be allowed to find the Ark, they're trying to use it to power some kind of weapon they're rebuilding or restoring. I don't know what it does yet, but it's not good." He walked over to the control console and stuck his data knife into it.

Gates whistled as Dimitri asked, "Does that mean you could find it? We could look for it and steal it before the IMC get their hands on it!"

He paused his progress with shutting down the generators. Could he do that? If he didn't make it out of this one, he needed to be certain that the information still made it back to the Militia, and the only person in this room he could trust right now was Dimitri. Might as well make it him.

"Give me a second…"

He focused hard on the power within him. The fiery presence that he'd felt earlier-

New flashes flared within his mind, as embers danced across his vision.

 _Rainforests and rivers. A lithe reptilian-like creature prowled nearby-_

 _A temple in the middle of the water. Some kind of isolated monument._

 _In its core, protected was a single blue orb. It pulsed with energy, just waiting for-_

He opened his eyes again, and inhaled deeply. He looked over at Dimitri. "It's in some kind of temple in the middle of water. Some… I don't know, a chamber of some kind. I'm sure I could figure out what planet it's from if I had more time-"

Dimitri shook his head, with a slight nod towards Gates that she didn't see. "We'll figure that out later. Just get those generators offline."

Tobias nodded, and turned back to his data knife. He navigated through the system's power conduit-

"Hold on… didn't you say you lost your knife, Four?"

He tensed up and felt Dimitri do so behind him as well. She'd realized his lie.

In one swift movement, he reached around to pull the Flatline off his back and aimed at Gates as Dimitri drew a Wingman and did the same. Gates jerked backwards, immediately raising her hands in the air.

'What the hell?! What are you two doing?"

"Someone's been passing information along to the IMC," he calmly explained, "and it's someone close to me. You've always been there, helping me plan out every mission, working through every obstacle, asking about my thoughts and ideas. Who else could it be?"

She seemed to be at a loss for words. "I don't… you really…?" She shook her head vigorously. "I would never want to hurt you, Four! I've been with you since the beginning, I…" His hand tightened on the gun as she trailed off, realizing that what she was saying just made her sound more guilty.

She looked over at Dimitri, her body language displaying that of someone whose trust had been broken. "And you… you think that too? That I'd betray you two?"

Dimitri swallowed hard. "I don't know what to believe, but he has a point. You've made some odd calls today, and it can't be a coincidence that I've known you a long time… I don't want to have to kill you, but I will if you try anything."

She fell silent, and simply stared back at Four, awaiting his judgement. He pointed towards a pipe on the wall of the room. "If you've got any restraints, lock her to that. Keep her from interfering with anything."

Dimitri reluctantly kept his aim on her while simultaneously pulling out a pair of wire-connected handcuffs cuffs. Locking one of her wrists in them, he connected the other to a segment of the pipe with a metal stud separating it from the rest of the pipe, effectively meaning she could only move a foot or so in either direction. She was no longer a threat.

Tobias met her gaze, and shook his head sadly. "You were one of the few people I considered a friend, Gates. It's hard to find anyone you can trust these days, but I thought I had. Guess I was wrong."

He turned back to the data knife in the console. "I still can't believe you turned out to be a traitor. Not just to the Militia, but to the 6-4's own creed."

"Oh, she's not," came Dimitri's voice from behind him.

 _BAM!_

He felt the bullet of the Wingman tear right through him as Gates screamed in horror from the side of the room. Crumpling to the ground, he landed on his back and saw Dimitri raise the gun up to his mouth and blow out the smoke emanating from the barrel.

"I am."


	19. The Bitter End

Tobias' hand scrabbled to his midsection, on the right side of his stomach. He felt a large hole in his suit which the bullet had blown out of. It had gone straight through. He twitched a bit in pain, hearing the splashing sounds of blood pooling underneath him from the similar wound on his back.

" _Tobias, I heard gunfire. Is everything alright?"_

Before he could respond to KT's question, Dimitri stepped forward to tear the transceiver he borrowed from Gates off his helmet. He threw it on the ground, and crushed it with his boot. Then he held his wrist up to his mouth, and typed in some kind of new frequency. "Blisk, this is Dimitri. I've got the info we need. The Ark is in the southern aisles, in the site we marked off a few months ago. That temple in the water."

" _Copy that, I'll notify Marder. Good work."_

He looked over at Tobias' data knife lodged in the console. "What a shame, but I'm afraid that I can't have you disabling those generators." With a powerful swipe of his hand, he hit the knife and snapped the blade off, leaving half of it stuck in the slot as the handle flew to the far corner of the room.

It was taking everything Tobias had to not pass out. "H-how … do y-you know where the A-Ark is … j-just from…?"

Dimitri shrugged. "We've known which planet the Ark was on for awhile now, a nice little isolated rock out there we call Typhon. But still, scouring an entire planet is pretty difficult as you've seen by our efforts to find the Inferno." He shook his head. "I knew that they'd found it, but couldn't get it to work. We'd never have been able to do so without your help, so I suppose I should thank you." He gave a mock bow as Tobias writhed on the ground. "We knew where it was alright, just couldn't work the damn thing."

"You son of a bitch!" Gates screamed from the side, still locked to the pipe. "I've trusted you more than anyone for years!"

He shrugged. "That's why it was so easy to avoid detection. As dear Four here so eloquently put it," he said, gesturing at Tobias, "trust is a very hard thing to come by in these times."

Tobias grunted. "Why d-did you ever h-help me?"

"I've been trying to get you killed since the beginning, ever since I knew you were a former IMC. Accelerating your pilot training, telling Gates that you'd probably volunteer to be KT's pilot, getting you assigned to a defense op on a refueling raid when most wouldn't get that assignment for months … I've been trying to keep you from spilling any secrets, and to kill two birds with one stone by taking out that Titan as well."

He made a 'tsk' sound. "But then you crashed on Tyche, and heard about Erebus… and goddamn, you are one determined person. I stuck close to you, trying to keep an eye on you. In fact, I encouraged you. I figured that this plan of yours to raid the Kraken was so dangerous, you'd die in the attempt." He shook his head. "But you survived. And then you kept surviving. And dammit, you just don't know when to die, do you? One mishap after another, but you always manage to come back on top. Well, not this time."

He turned his aim to Gates, forcing her to freeze lest she get shot. Slowly, he walked up to her, and grabbed her sidearm from her holster. "You won't be needing this."

Placing her weapon in a pouch at his side, he then turned towards the only other exit of the room besides the one that led back into the trenches; a tunnel that led back to the main hexagonal complex. As he walked out, he turned back to Tobias one last time.

"It's a shame, Four. Someone with your skills could have really made a difference in the IMC. It's a waste."

Then he walked down the tunnel.

Tobias couldn't do much more than lay there, feeling himself get weaker by the minute. He was losing a bit of blood, and honestly he didn't care. Dimitri had been revealed as a traitor, pain was forcing every sensible thought out of his mind, and he couldn't see a way out of this one. For once, he just thought about staying there on the ground … letting it all fade away…

"Four!"

He heard her call his name, and feebly turned his head to see Gates. She was looking wildly from him to the tunnel. "Stay awake! We're gonna make it out of this one, you hear me? Stay with me!"

He slightly shook his head. "T-there's nothing w-we can do …"

She froze as she heard him finally appearing to concede, to lose hope.

"I-I've tried my h-hardest to never s-surrender … b-but I j-just don't see a w-way out of t-this one …" He coughed, a bit of blood flying into the air as he did so.

Gates was motionless, just staring at him. "I never…" She shook her head vigorously. "I've never seen you give up, don't start now! If that bastard gets away, then everything you've done will have been for nothing! I believe in you, I've always believed in you! Fight this! Stay with me!"

The IMC would build their weapon. The frontier would be lost to them, and the Militia would be wiped out.

Gates' words began to take their effect on him. She was right, he'd never given up before. He wouldn't have survived Nedar if he'd given up, never would have found KT, never would have linked with her…

They were effectively locked in here since he couldn't move much and Gates was chained to the wall. And these walls were made to withstand a lot, this room doubled as a bunker. Which meant a lot of force would be needed to break in.

The neural link.

With one last ace up his sleeve, he closed his eyes and focused past the pain. _KT, I need you. If you can hear me, I need you_ _ **now**_ _._

Gates stared at him, watching him intently and trying to figure out what he was doing. He opened his eyes, and listened.

Nothing.

He sighed. He knew that Gates believed in him, but maybe his luck had finally run out-

 _WHAM._

Dust shook from the ceiling and walls as a massive force hit the entrance wall. Gates jumped at the noise, turning to look at it as it received another hit.

 _WHAM._

The slightest of smiles tugged on the edges of his lips. "That's m-my girl."

With one last _WHAM,_ the wall cracked apart and crumbled. A large metal fist had broken through, and retracted to allow visual sight within. "Tobias?! Are you alright?!"

He waved over at Gates' predicament. "Get … get her free …"

KT reached through the hole, gripped the pipe which Gates was stuck to, and snapped it. The Captain wasted no time in sliding the handcuffs off of the pipe, and ran to his side. "Alright, you stay with me, you hear? I told you, we're gonna-"

He gripped her tightly, and she helped him up to his feet. Reaching into a pouch at her side, she brought out some circular device. "This is a quick-acting medical cocktail. Should keep you on your feet for a while."

She exposed one of his arms by pulling up his white sleeve, and slapped it on. There was a mini-needle or something in it, and he felt it enter. That was the only bout of discomfort, however, as pain quickly began to become a bit duller than the sharp agony he'd been experiencing a few moments ago. He could feel his mind clearing a bit.

"What happened?!" demanded KT, her voice giving away just how protective she was trying to be.

"He's been shot," explained Gates, "Dimitri's a traitor. We have to stop him-"

Tobias shook his head. "No, that's… that's gonna be our job. You've got to get back, and tell everyone about the Ark and Typhon." He looked up at KT. "You said to … the bitter end, right?"

She stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly.

Gates looked between the two of them. "Not that I don't doubt your resolve, but you're _shot_. You were just _bleeding out_. And now you want to chase him down yourself?"

He grunted, "I know what I'm doing. Get everyone to the evac zone, I'm gonna disable the guns while I'm up there. I've got a plan." He humorously pointed to his head, but she didn't seem to find it all that funny.

"Just stay safe, alright?" She reached her arms forward and gave him a hug. "I don't want to lose you a second time."

With that, she turned and left through the massive hole in the wall that KT had made, running through the snow back to the courtyard. He shambled over to KT as she analyzed him.

"Tobias, you need proper medical attention. I don't recommend-"

"We've got a job to do, Kay," he interrupted. "If we don't follow through, a lot of people are gonna die. It's up us now." Truthfully, he wanted to go home with the rest of them, but he was trying to give himself just as much purpose as Gates was trying to earlier.

The Tone looked at him for a moment longer, then nodded. Her hull opened up, and he pulled himself into it with a bit of difficulty. "Don't transfer control, you'll be more effective this way. Make … make your way to that spot where you were reactivated."

She obliged, and he watched through the ocular systems as she waded through the snow towards the point he'd indicated. Battle still waged in the center courtyard, but they remained largely ignored so long as they didn't engage. She spoke to him, trying to get a better sense of his plan. _"What exactly do you think you're going to do?"_

"First, I need to disable the generators, blind the guns. And to do that, I need Dimitri."

" _And then what?"_

He swallowed hard, hoping she wouldn't notice the even tone of his voice. "And then we go home."

" _I like that plan."_

She didn't need to know that he wasn't being entirely truthful.

Eventually, they reached the location. KT ambled a bit, looking around.

"Alright," he said, pulling the release latch for the hull and exiting the chassis, "I need you to throw me."

She stared blankly at him for a moment. "Excuse me?"

He pointed up at the shattered window that he and the 6-4 had jumped out of earlier. "Right there … I need to get to the command room, the one that Blisk interrogated me in. I think … I can shut down the generators from there."

She looked up at the height, and sort of sighed. "I take back what I said about liking this plan."

He raised his arms up, waiting for her to grab him. Gently, she reached out and firmly held him in her grip. She raised him into the air, and looked up towards the hole, several stories up. Her eye rotated to look at him. "Good luck."

He gave her a thumbs up, and then she threw him. He felt himself soar through the air, finally losing momentum right as he sailed through the broken glass. He landed lightly on his back, and quickly righted himself into a standing position. He leaned out of the window to look at KT waiting below, and flashed her a thumbs up. She reciprocated the action, raising her own hand up to make a thumbs up as well.

He focused, and spoke through the neural link again. "KT, head back to the extraction point and help defend the area until I've disabled the guns. They're gonna need every hand they can get."

She hesitated just for a moment before nodding. _"Be quick, we're running out of time."_

As she lumbered off, he couldn't help but hope that she'd forgive him.

He pulled the Flatline off his back, and held it in a ready position as he pushed through the halls. He retraced his steps from earlier that Gates and the 6-4 had led him through until he finally arrived in a familiar hallway. Leaning around the edge of the doorframe in the center of it, he was pleased to see that the command room was still empty. Obviously, the IMC were a bit preoccupied with the battle raging across their precious planet.

He walked in, checking corners and ensuring that no cloaked pilots were in the area, he wouldn't be surprised like that again. When he was sure that it was clear, he made his way towards the control console. What he was looking for wasn't the database or even the command system, he had no way to access them without a certain something. But what he could do…

Spotting a microphone with a button beneath it, he thumbed the button and heard the signature tone of the loudspeakers around the base turning on. He wasted no time in shouting out orders;

"Militia forces, this is Lieutenant Four! Get to the extraction point on the double, we're getting out of here!" Letting go of the button, he was pleased to look out the observation window and see a general movement of the militia forces toward the missing segment in the complex, near the area between the facility and the trench.

"Well, look who's still trying to be a hero."

He turned at the voice, and saw two of his least favorite individuals standing there; Blisk and Dimitri. The former had spoken, and was now shaking his head. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

Dimitri nodded. "I'm telling you, this guy just won't die. Permission to fix that?"

Blisk laughed. "Permission granted. I'm getting on a shuttle out of here, Marder wants us to start looking for the Ark as soon as possible. Update me when you can, eh?" He patted Dimitri on the shoulder, and then left him and Tobias alone in the command room.

Dimitri began to raise up the wingman in response to Tobias' already leveled Flatline. "You've done your fair share of impressive feats, I'll admit, but managing to get back here and challenge me? That tops the list, kid."

"Fight me."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Tobias nodded towards the Wingman. "Blisk said he has a creed, something about deciding who is better than who. What is it?"

Dimitri narrowed his eyes, and paused for a moment. "His motto is, 'you kill me, you're better. I kill you, I'm better.'"

Now confident, Tobias gave a slight shrug. "Why don't you and I settle that then? Right here and now, no guns. Just two men fighting."

A thoughtful look came over Dimitri's face. "A chance to kick your sorry ass for all the trouble you've caused me? How can I say no?" Grinning, he lowered the Wingman as Tobias did the same with the Flatline. At the same time, each dropped their weapon to the floor and kicked it to the side of the room.

"This is gonna be fun." Dimitri charged hard and fast before he was prepared. A fist slammed into the side of his helmet, and he jerked away from the force reflexively. Another well-placed jab landed right where he'd been shot in his abdomen, and it took a lot of willpower to not cry out in pain.

Moving to the offensive, he threw a punch that connected with the bridge of Dimitri's nose. The mercenary stepped back, holding a hand up to it. "Solid punch, Four. Definitely got a lot of fight in you still."

Dimitri aimed a kick at Tobias' ribs that he managed to dodge, then countered with an uppercut. Dimitri caught his arm, and threw it to the side so that Tobias spun away from him. With his back exposed, Dimitri placed his foot against the other bullet wound, and shoved him into the computer console.

Tobias felt the front of his helmet crack fully against the force being driven against it, and it flew off when he bounced back off. Grabbing his hair, Dimitri slammed his face into the buttons of the console again. The metal clanged against his skull, and his vision began to swim.

Trying to focus on the objective at hand, Tobias launched himself at Dimitri and began to tear and claw at anything that he could get his hands on. Grabbing him by the shoulders, Dimitri picked him up and threw him across the room to the floor. His belt and pouches came loose from Tobias' hand wrapped tightly around its strap, and landed next to him on the ground. His head slammed into the floor, and a dull throbbing echoed throughout his skull. He moved his right hand, trying to find what he was after.

Dimitri knelt down, gloating while he stared at Tobias bruised face. "Did you really think you could overpower me while suffering a bullet wound? I'm surprised you even lasted this long-"

He froze as he felt the cold steel of a gun barrel press against his chin, and Tobias narrowed his eyes. "No… but it looks like I could outwit you."

Pulling the trigger of Gates' stolen sidearm that Dimitri had stored in his pouch, red was painted all over the window and console. His chest heaving with exhaustion, Tobias shoved the body off of him and began rapidly searching it. He found what he was searching for on an arm-strap wrapped around his left shoulder. Taking the data knife, he walked over to the command console and stuck it in.

"See," he explained to Dimitri's corpse, "I know that you guys probably put up … put up firewalls against any foreign software that's put into these things. But since you're actually IMC … I've got a feeling that your knife might be an exception."

When the blue ring on the data-knife finished winked brightly, he knew he was in. "Gotcha."

He navigated through the complex's main command network, and found the generators' system. Without hesitation, he shut them down.

The reaction was immediate. The snowstorm that would otherwise be making its way toward the complex was now free to do so, unhindered by the generators. He closed his eyes, and braced himself.

This was going to be the hard part.

…

KT was standing guard over the evac zone, shepherding other Militia forces forward. With the snow now falling, the guns became inactive, and sat there harmless. They couldn't see or sense the Widow dropships rapidly approaching to pick up both humans and Titans alike. She looked around, expecting to see Tobias around. Where was he-

" _Kay."_

She felt a bit of her tension release once his voice came through their neural link. Gates looked at her curiously, noticing her movement. "Is that Four?"

KT nodded, and began to play the transmission out loud through her speakers. "I read you, Tobias. The guns are offline, where are you?"

There was nothing but static on the other end of the line. She began to feel the familiar sense of apprehension creeping upon her. "Tobias? Are you there?"

"… _I'm not coming with you."_

Time stopped.

She struggled to process what he'd just said. "What do you mean you're not coming with?"

Gates seemed pretty taken aback as well. "Four, get your ass over here now, that's an order-"

" _We have to find Typhon to stop the weapon they're creating. And we can't do that if we don't know where it is. Trying to find it like we did with Erebus isn't gonna work a second time."_

"You don't know that!" Gates shouted, other riflemen and Titans staring at them as they walked past and boarded the dropships in a hurry.

" _Do you think the IMC is dumb enough to fall for the same trick twice? The Militia would have won this war a long time ago if that were the case."_

Gates fell silent, realizing how serious he was about this. KT struggled to find words, to find a solution to this. "We can … we can …"

" _I'm going to give myself up. They won't kill me, now that I'm the Inferno. I'm too valuable to lose."_

"How does that help anyone?!" KT finally yelled, reaching her breaking point. She was tired of having hope ripped away from her every time she was given any, tired of having her heart broken by this war.

" _You were able to track me with the energy signature of the Inferno. When I … when I'm finally brought to Typhon, as I'm sure they'll take me, then the Militia will know where to attack. Where to find and destroy the weapon."_

Gates was shocked. "But that could be years away!"

" _I know."_

KT said nothing. There was nothing to say. She was going to lose him, despite all of her efforts to not do so … she was going to lose yet another pilot. She was going to lose her best friend, and she wasn't sure how to continue on.

"C'mon!" yelled a riflemen to the two of them standing there. "We gotta get the hell out of here!" Indeed, the Widows were beginning to fill up and would take off soon. Only a few other Militia Titans were holding the enemy force back.

" _Kay…"_

She heard him say her name, and held onto it like a lifeline. "Tobias?"

" _I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you through any of this… I never meant to break my promise when I said that I'd never abandon you. Not to mention that we won't get to have those adventures in the frontier I told you about."_

He chuckled, but it sounded mirthless, like he was crying as he did so. The Tone held her composure well, using her anger at the situation to avoid breaking down. "But you have to do this, right? Why can't you let someone else risk everything for once?!"

" _You said to the bitter end … well, this is a pretty damn bitter end."_

That tipped her over the edge, and her voice became choked. Gates had never heard a Titan cry before, but it certainly sounded like one was right now. "Please ... please don't do this. I need you Tobias, I-"

" _You told me that you were a lousy Titan, but a good friend. I'm sorry that I'm an awful friend … but apparently I make a good Titan. And right now, I'm enacting protocol two; uphold the mission."_

The massive doors of the open segment to the facility began to close to KT's and Gates' surprise.

" _I'm shutting down all of the facility to demotivate you guys from forming some sort of rescue attempt. This is the way it has to be, please don't get yourselves killed on account of me."_

Gates shook her head, cursing as she did so. "Dammit, Four…"

His voice crackled through her speakers again, sounding just as broken as she felt inside. _"Kay, you're the best damn friend I could have ever asked for. You're more than a friend, you're…"_

She nodded, hearing him pause. "I feel the same, Tobias. You're everything to me."

"… _Don't hold yourself back for me. Get yourself a new pilot, a better pilot. Don't let yourself go to waste while I'm gone, that's the last thing I'd want."_

"LAST CALL!" came the sound of someone over the speakers of the Widow. Numbly, KT and Gates rushed to board.

She stared back out at the facility as the dropship began to rise. "I refuse. This isn't the end, Tobias. We will find you, no matter how long it takes."

"… _I'll miss you, KT."_

She felt herself wilt internally at his words as the dropship quickly left a viable range for transmission through the Neural link. "Tobias, I… I lo-"

Static suddenly played over the link, and she quickly fell silent, feeling the absolute weight of complete loneliness wash over her.

…

" _Tobias, I… I lo-"_

KT was cut off was the dropship she was on left a proper range, and he just stared blankly out the window as tears streamed down his face.

Wiping them away with the back of his fingerless gloves, he turned and let himself fall onto the ground, taking a sitting position against the console as he resigned himself to his fate.

The sound of approaching footsteps grew ever closer, and with it, his desolate future.

As a prisoner.

As the Inferno.

As someone who had their last vestiges of happiness and hope ripped away from them.

To the bitter end indeed.


	20. Not the End

_My name is Tobias Four._

 _I don't even know why I'm doing this, no one can hear me. I can't even record a real logbook, it's all just inside my head._

 _Maybe, it's just to keep me sane. The solitude, the stuff they put me through day after day … it's enough to drive anyone mad._

 _I can't remember what day it is. I've lost track of how long I've been here. The torture tends to blend everything together, and when it just goes on for hours without end … when it lasts long into the night, and I don't get any respite until I heal and then it's right back to to the cutting board … life is just hell._

 _My name is Tobias Four._

 _I wonder how the war is going. Are we winning? Are we losing? Is it over? Somehow, I doubt that I'll know until either after I'm dead or I'm rescued. But after … how long has it been, since I last heard a friendly voice? I'm running low on any hope of escape._

 _I was right, they wouldn't kill the Inferno, but they'll certainly hurt me. I enjoy talking with the scientists when they ask me stuff that I don't think is harmful to tell them. I've learned a lot. But when they ask about something that could hurt the Militia, and I refuse … that's when the knives and needles come out._

 _I just …_

 _My name … uh, my name is Tobias Four._

 _I think … I think the worst part about any of this is the loneliness. I knew that I would go through this alone, but … goddamn if it doesn't suck. I miss Vale and Tyra. I miss Gates. I'd even take Dimitri, if only to tell him to go screw himself one last time. But I don't think it's any surprise to say that, I miss…_

 _Goddamn it, I miss you KT._

 _If I could just hear your voice, I think I'd be able to take this for another year. Just to know you're okay, just so I could even say 'hi'. At this point, you're probably the only thing keeping me going forward. I've got one last reserve of strength, and it's gonna be a hell of a long time before you're drained from my mind._

 _My na … ah, who cares what my name is._

* * *

How long had it been? One ... two years? He had no way to track the time, all he had to go on were the times when he was being beaten. Those were usually the only points at which he was conscious.

He could feel the all too familiar sense of his skin cracking as another laceration scabbed up and began to break apart as it healed. At this point, he knew his body's healing process like clockwork.

Which meant that he'd probably be right back on the schedule again tomorrow.

He enjoyed being injured, it meant that they had to take a break from tormenting him for a bit. Everyone around him knew that he didn't have much else to look forward to. The worst part was probably the chafing of his wrists that came from them being locked in restraints twenty-four seven.

He couldn't count how many times that the scientists had urged him to transfer the entity of the Inferno into someone else, allow them to end his suffering. Each time, he refused, in spite of how intensely they made the following torture sessions. Once he gave it up, he was dead. Simple as that.

He was often moved from different holding room to different holding room, sometimes shipped across the stars for safe-keeping. The IMC knew his value, but it seemed like they'd forgotten about his energy signature.

It had faded over time until they were confident enough to say that it had disappeared, and he was not a threat to keep on their worlds. What they didn't know was how he had gotten better at masking it, at keeping it in the back of his mind and letting it flare just a little bit every so often, just enough to let someone watching for it know that he wast still alive.

Being moved to Typhon had happened nearly four months previous, as far as he could tell the time accurately. The IMC had been nearing their completion of a containment unit for the Ark, and the construction of their weapon, something they called the 'fold weapon'. Just like the original Inferno had told him long ago, it was an artificial recreation of the ancient race's defense network that was being used as a blunt instrument. They had no idea the potential for the technology other than that they could destroy the Militia with it.

Now, all anyone ever talked about was how he was nearing the end of his usefulness now that the technology for the fold weapon and the Ark were in the IMC's hands. He had to agree that he couldn't really see why they'd keep him around afterward.

Something happened in the pitch-black of his holding cell; he heard noises, gunfire. Screaming. He listened closely, trying to make out what was happening. The IMC had been prepping for this day for a while, it was the day they were using the fold weapon on Harmony. Nobody had talked of anything else for weeks now. Had the Militia finally arrived to stop-?

 _Rumble._

He froze, all to aware of that sound. There was no way, it couldn't be true.

 _Rumble._

He'd all but given up hope after all this time.

 _WHAM._

The same entity outside making those rumbling sounds was now hammering on the large metal door of his prison. He could see the structure beginning to dent and bend, allowing a tiny bit of light to shine through.

 _WHAM._

With a massive crunch, the door fell over from its position, and landed with a loud metal thud on the floor. Blinding light swept into the room, making him recoil back for just a moment. As a shadow blocked it from sight, he opened his eyes again and nearly sobbed in relief of the familiar cracked blue eye in front of him.

"… _Tobias."_

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 _ **A/N: Alright guys! It's been a hell of a ride, but this is where Inferno hits the end of the line.**_

 _ **I want you all to know that this is not the end of these characters, just this particular story. I have decided (thanks to urging and requests from you all) to write a sequel to it that will follow up on what happens in the future, and fill in some missing blanks between when Four was captured and is now rescued(?). Consider this a mini-epilogue or teaser for what is yet to come.**_

 _ **If you would like to know exactly when I make the next story, please follow and favorite me as an author for notifications sent to your email of when I upload a story! The support has been overwhelmingly positive, and I love that so many of you have invested your time into my writing!**_

 _ **I've noticed some people with questions that need answering, though they use guest accounts and I can't reply to them. But if any of you are curious/would like to discuss certain aspects of the story, feel free to PM me or email me!**_

 _ **Once again, the story of Four and KT is not finished! Please stay tuned to my author page for when I upload the sequel to Inferno.**_


	21. (THE SEQUEL IS OUT NOW)

_**A/N: THE SEQUEL IS OUT EVERYONE!**_

 _I cannot stress this enough. Seriously, I've had like ten to fifteen people message me over the last week and a half, asking when the sequel to Inferno would be released. Apparently, they were unaware of the fact that it's already been up since December._

 _If you also fall into this category, do not fret! The sequel's name is 'Tempest'. It's here on the Titanfall story pages, or you can access it through my author page by clicking on my account name and looking at my stories._

 _In any matter, this is just a heads up for those who have been caught unaware that the story has been continued. Maybe I should have posted this earlier, but I guess late is better than never._

 _Anyway, hope to see you all there!_

 _\- Matteoarts_


End file.
